NOTES AND NESTING HABITS OF BIRDS. 199 
Carmel, Illinois, where this species is very abundant, I have found 
its nests situated in a variety of ways upon one tree; some being 
saddled upon the branches, or supported in a crotch like those of 
the robin, and others placed in cavities, either natural ones such as 
knotholes or decayed places, or in the holes made by the larger 
woodpeckers (Hylotomus and Colaptes). I once found a very 
large colony of these birds breeding upon a small island in the 
Wabash River. The nésts were all placed in the tall slender wil- 
lows, none more than twenty feet from the ground, and many with- 
in easy reach without climbing; they were supported by small 
twigs against the body of the saplings, for there were no large limbs 
to support them. Probably more than a hundred pairs were nest- 
ing in this community, as upwards of seventy nests were found in 
a short time.’ Within the area of a square mile, I have found 
nests of the common dove (Zenaidura Carolinensis) upon trees, on 
the top of stumps in‘the thick woods, on the flat rail of a fence, 
. and upon the ground in grain fields ; also nests of Harporhynchus 
rufus in as diverse situations. Near Mt. Carmel the white-bellied ` 
swallow ( Tachycineta bicolor) nests exclusively in holes made by 
the downy woodpecker (Picus pubescens) and chickadee (Parus 
Carolinensis), in the dead stumps around lagoons in the bottom 
lands, in company with the golden swamp warbler (Protonotaria 
citrea), with which it shares these cavities. At Carson City, Ne- 
vada, this species was noticed to nest only about houses, in the 
eaves or over porches, as the purple martin (Progne subis) does in 
the east. - There were no trees there to accommodate them, which 
accounted for this deviation from their original habit. At Mt. 
Carmel, the purple martin and chimney swift (Cheetura pelagica) 
: have almost entirely forsaken these nesting places, and have ta- 
> ken up with man, the former being as domestic as house pigeons, 
=~ and the latter possessing themselves of the chimneys. But the 
white-bellied swallow pertinaciously clings to its primitive cus- 
tom. In California, according to various writers; and in Ari- 
zona according to Dr. Coues, the T. thalassina nests in holes in 
_ trees, but during two years of collecting in Nevada and Utah I 
“never saw a nest of this species so situated ; it constantly nested 
in horizontal fissures or crevices on the face of the limestone 
; cliffs, in company with the “ mud swallow” (Petrochelidon luni- 
> frons) and white throated swift (Panyptila melanoleuca). _ This 
_ was apparently not owing to a lack óf suitable places for nesting 
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