BARN SWA LLO W. 



135 



structure of the nest, it is nearly a week before it is com- 

 pletely finished. One of these nests, taken on the 21st of 

 June from the rafter to which it was closely attached, is 

 now lying before me. It is in the form of an inverted cone, 

 with a perpendicular section cut off on that side by which it 

 adhered to the wood. At the top it has an extension of the 

 edge or offset, for the male or female to sit on occasionally, as 

 appeared by the dung ; the upper diameter was about six 

 inches by five, the height externally seven inches. This 

 shell is formed of mud, mixed with fine hay, as plasterers 

 do their mortar with hair, to make it adhere the better ; the 

 mud seems to have been placed in regular strata or layers, 

 from side to side ; the hollow of this cone (the shell of which 

 is about an inch in thickness) is filled with fine hay, well 

 stuffed in ; above that is laid a handful of very large downy 

 geese feathers. The eggs are five, white, specked, and spotted 

 all over with reddish brown. Owing to the semi- transparency 

 of the shell, the eggs have a slight tinge of flesh colour. The 

 whole weighs about two pounds. 



They have generally two broods in the season. The first 

 make their appearance about the second week in June ; and 

 the last brood leave the nest about the lOLh of August. 

 Though it is not uncommon for twenty, and even thirty, 

 pair to build in the same barn, yet everything seems to be 

 conducted with great order and affection ; all seems harmony 

 among them, as if the interest of each were that of all. 

 Several nests are often within a few inches of each other ; 

 yet no appearance of discord or quarrelling takes place in 

 this peaceful and affectionate community. 



When the young are fit to leave the nest, the old ones 

 entice them out by fluttering backwards and forwards, twitter- 

 ing and calling to them every time they pass ; and the young 

 exercise themselves for several days in short essays of this 

 kind within doors before they first venture abroad. As soon 

 as they leave the barn, they are conducted by their parents 

 to the trees or bushes by the pond, creek, or river shore, or 



