144 LAND-BIKDS AND GAME-BIRDS 
The Barn Swallows are so well known, that I have men- 
tioned no details in their habits. Their colonizations, their 
constantly uttered notes, and their flights, are familiar to nearly 
all, and the latter have long since been made the theme of 
many an author. 
II. PETROCHELIDON 
(A) vonirrons. Cliff Swallow. Eave Swallow. “Republi- 
can.” 
(Locally very abundant in New England, but much less so, 
probably, than they will be ten years hence.) 
(a). About five inches long. Tail scarcely forked. Upper 
parts, and a spot on the breast, steel-blue. Rump, sides of 
the head, and throat, chestnut-red. Breast, paler, belly, white. 
Forehead, brownish. 
(b). The nest is generally somewhat bottle-shaped, is com- 
posed chiefly of a delicate mud-plaster, often intermixed with 
bits of straw, and is naturally brittle. It is placed under the 
outside eaves of barns or outhouses, and never (?) in Massa- 
chusetts on cliffs, as is usual in wilder parts of the country, in 
accordance with the original habits of these swallows. Several 
of these nests, sometimes as many as a hundred, are generally 
placed in a row. The eggs are essentially like those of the 
Barn Swallow (I, A, 6), so much so as often to be indistin- 
guishable, and are laid about the same time. 
(c). The Cliff Swallows, who in many ways closely resem- 
ble the Barn Swallows, are resident in Eastern Massachusetts 
from the first week of May until September. They are very 
abundant in certain localities in New England; but, as they 
are eminently colonial, they are not to be found scattered 
through every township. They have essentially the same 
habits as the Barn Swallows, except that they alight much 
more frequently, often upon the ground to pick up mud for 
their nests. Their flight is not very noticeably different from 
that of their relatives, and their notes also bear much the same 
character, being, however, more like those of the White-bellied 
than those of the Barn Swallow. It is difficult, aswell as 
