The Cliff Swallows 
General Range. —Breeds in northwestern North America north to Mackenzie 
and central Alaska; west to central British Columbia; south to Montana; and east 
to Alberta and Mackenzie. Migrates through Wyoming and California. Winters 
probably in South America. 
Occurrence in California. —One record: Laguna Station, San Diego County> 
May 4, 1894. 
Authority.- Oberholser (Petrochelidon albifrons hypopolia), Canadian Field- 
Naturalist, vol. xxxiii., Nov. 1919, p. 95 (orig. desc.; type locality, Ft. Norman, Mac¬ 
kenzie; one spec, listed from Calif.). 
Taken in Washington Photo by the Author 
COLONIAL NESTING 
DOUBTLESS the Lord—to paraphrase Lincoln’s aphorism—must 
love the Cliff Swallows, else he would not have made so many of them. 
Common they unquestionably are; yet 1 do not know that they are 
altogether lovable. Common they are, too, not alone in the sense of 
abundance, but also in that of familiarity. They harry our pastures, 
they swarm about our horse-ponds, they appropriate the eaves of our 
barns, and they even invade our porches and house-gables, if unrebuked. 
But they are not exactly friendly, as are the Barn Swallows; or dainty 
and fastidious, as are the Violet-greens. There is something, also, 
a little detached about their ways. Their colonies are self-sufficient, 
like those of ants. They dwell, a people apart, like the Jews, who 
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