181 



THE BARN SWALLOW. 



.y- Hikundo rustica, Linn. 



PLATE XLVIIL— Male, Female, and Nest. 



The Barn Swallow makes its first appearance at New Orleans from the 

 middle of February to the first of March. They do not arrive in flocks, 

 but apparently in pairs, or a few together, and immediately resort to the 

 places where they have bred before, or where they have been reared. Their 

 progress over the Union depends much on the state of the weather; and I 

 have observed a difference of a whole month, owing to the varying tempera- 

 ture, in their arrival at different places. Thus in Kentucky, Virginia, or 

 Pennsylvania, they now and then do not arrive until the middle of April or 

 the beginning of May. In milder seasons, they reach Massachusetts and 

 the eastern parts of Maine by the 10th of the latter month, when you may 

 rest assured that they are distributed over all the intermediate districts. So 

 hardy does this species seem to be, that I observed it near Eastport in Maine, 

 on the 7th May, 1S33, in company with the Republican or Cliff Swallow, 

 pursuing its different avocations, while masses of ice hung from every cliff, 

 and the weather felt cold to me. I saw them in the Gut of Cansso on the 

 10th of June, and on the Magdeleine Islands on the 13th of the same month. 

 They were occupied in building their nests in the open cupola of a church. 

 Not one, however, was observed in Labrador, although many Sand Martins 

 were seen there. On our return, I found at Newfoundland some of the pre- 

 sent species, and of the Cliff Swallow, all of which were migrating southward 

 on the 14th of August, when Fahrenheit's thermometer stood at 41°. 



In spring, the Barn Swallow is welcomed by all, for she seldom appears 

 before the final melting of the snows and the commencement of mild weather, 

 and is looked upon as the harbinger of summer. As she never commits 

 depredations on any thing that men consider as their own, every body loves 

 her, and, as the child was taught by his parents, so the man teaches his oil- 

 spring, to cherish her. About a week after the arrival of this species, and 

 when it has already resorted to its wonted haunts, examined its last year's 

 tenement, or made choice of a place to which it may securely fix its nest, it 

 begins either to build or to deposit its eggs. 



The nest is attached to the side of a beam or rafter in a barn or shed, 

 under a bridge, or sometimes even in an old well, or in a sink hole, such as 

 those found in the Kentucky barrens. Whenever the situation is convenient 



