X82 THE BARN SWALLOW. 



and affords sufficient room, you find several nests together, and in some 

 instances I have seen seven or eight within a few inches of each other; nay, 

 in some large barns I have counted forty, fifty, or more. The male and the 

 female both betake themselves to the borders of creeks, rivers, ponds, or 

 lakes, where they form small pellets of mud or moist earth, which they 

 carry in their bill to the chosen spot, and place against the wood, the wall, 

 or the rock, as it may chance to be. They dispose of these pellets in regular 

 layers, mixing, especially with the lower, a considerable quantity of long 

 slender grasses, which often dangle for several inches beneath the bottom of 

 the nest. The first layers are short, but the rest gradually increase in length, 

 as the birds proceed upwards with their work, until they reach the top, when 

 the fabric resembles the section of an inverted cone, the length being eight 

 inches, and the greatest diameter six, while that from the wall or other flat 

 surface to the outside of the shell is three and a half, and the latter is fully 

 an inch thick. I have never observed in a newly finished nest, the expan- 

 sion of the upper layer mentioned by Wilson, although I have frequently 

 seen it in one that has been repaired or enlarged. The average weight of 

 such a nest as I have described is more than two pounds, but there is^consi- 

 derable difference as to size between different nests, some being shorter by 

 two or three inches, and proportionally narrow at the top. These differences 

 depend much on the time the birds have to construct their tenement pre- 

 vious to depositing the eggs. Now and then I have seen some formed at a 

 late period, that were altogether destitute of the intermixture of grass with 

 the mud observed in the nest described above, which was a perfect one, and 

 had occupied the birds seven days in constructing it, during which period they 

 laboured from sunrise until dusk, with an intermission of several hours in 

 the middle of the day. Within the shell of mud is a bed, several inches 

 thick, of slender grasses arranged in a circular form, over which is placed a 

 quantity of large soft feathers. I never saw one of these nests in a chimney, 

 nor have I ever heard of their occurring in such situations, they being usually 

 occupied by the American Swift, which is a more powerful bird, and may 

 perhaps prevent the Barn Swallow from entering. The eggs are from four 

 to six, rather small and elongated, semi-translucent, white, and sparingly 

 spotted all over with reddish-brown. The period of incubation is thirteen 

 days, and both sexes sit, although not for the same length of time, the female 

 performing the greater part of the task. Each provides the other with food 

 on this occasion, and both rest at night beside each other in the nest. In 

 South Carolina, where a few breed, the nest is formed in the beginning of 

 April, and in Kentucky about the first of May. 



When the young have attained a considerable size, the parents, who feed 

 them with much care and affection, roost in the nearest convenient place. 



