Ii6 CHANGE OF HABITS OF SOME MAINE BIRDS. 



a cup attached by one side to the building, with no covering 

 whatever. One can easily see the causes which have 

 gradually led the birds to adopt this form. Where they 

 built against cliffs, there was a necessity for covered nests, 

 and the rocks were so damp that the material of the nest 

 kept moist, so that, although from the nests extending so far 

 outward, there was a tendency to separate from the base, the 

 tenacity of the mud prevented it. Building in the same way 

 on the sides of barns, the nests would not adhere to the 

 boards when the weather was dry, and in consequence many 

 nests fell and multitudes of eggs and young were destroyed. 

 Besides, as the eaves of many barns projected so as to 

 protect them, there was less necessity for covered nests. Thus 

 gradually the style has changed, till now few nests are seen 

 near settlements which bear any resemblance to Audubon's 

 plate. Two years ago, I saw a notable exception to this. At 

 the " Giant " farm, near Caribou Lake, we saw these swallows 

 in large numbers building in the old style. This farm is in 

 the woods, ten miles from the next house, and some thirty 

 miles from the nearest settlement. Whether these birds had 

 never been near settlements, and so had not learned the latest 

 improvements, or from whatever cause, they continued to 

 build in the old way. 



I might extend this paper by mentioning changes in 

 habits of other species, but sufficient has been said to show 

 that birds, like people, are progressive, and those who ob- 

 serve them closely will yet learn many things of which we 

 are not now aware. 



