ON THE BREEDING OF CERTAIN BIRDS. 



In the treeless portions of Montana, the streams that meander 



" cut-banks," which I mentioned in my last article as the breeding 

 resort of various hawks. This furnishes other exceptional in- 



Probably no birds vary more in their modes of nesting accord- 

 lows fasten their bottle-shaped nests of mud ; but who would have 

 anticipated the breeding amongst them of barn swallows, in holes 

 in the ground? In various parts of Montana, where there were 



(ravines) and streams, I frequently saw troops of barn-swallows, 

 and for some time wondered where they bred. At length Mr. 

 Batty, one of my assistants, found some nests of this species, and 

 settled the question. The nests were placed in little excavations 



and answering all the purpose of the corner of the rafters, which 

 the bird usually selects. Mr. Batty surmised that in some in- 

 stances at least, the bird enlarged and adapted, if it did not 

 actually dig out, the excavation ; but of this I do not feel sure. 

 It seems more probable that choice was made of the natural inden- 

 tations of the bank, just as was the case with the hawks already 



At one of our camps on a small tributary of Milk River, on the 

 boundary line of the United States and British America, two 

 nests of the golden eagle (A'/uihi chn/s<r<t<.s) were found within a 

 mile of each other, each capping a piece of cut-bank. 



Viewed from the prairie side they seemed, and actually were, to 

 all intents and purposes, placed on the bare level ground ; from 

 • the reverse aspect the natural instinct of nesting on a crag was 

 (75) 



