226 
BARN SWALLOW. 
liair, to make it adhere the better ; the niud 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, speckled and spotted all over with 
reddish brown. Owing to the semi-transparency of the shell the eggs 
have a slight tinge of flesh color. 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 10th 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 har- 
mony 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 com- 
munity. 
When the young are fit to leave the nest, the old ones entice them 
out by fluttering backwards and forwards, twittering and calling to 
them every time they pass ; and the young exercise themselves, for se- 
veral 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 other suitable situation, where their proper food is most abundant, 
and where they can be fed with the greatest convenience to both par- 
ties. Now and then they take a short excursion themselves, and are 
also frequently fed while on wing by an almost instantaneous motion of 
both parties, rising perpendicularly in air and meeting each other. 
About the middle of August they seem to begin to prepare for their de- 
parture. They assemble on the roof in great numbers, dressing and ar- 
ranging their plumage, and making occasional essays, twittering with 
great cheerfulness. Their song is a kind of sprightly warble, some- 
times continued for a considerable time. From this period to the eighth 
of September they are seen near the Schuylkill and Delaware, every 
afternoon, for two or three hours before sunset, passing along to the 
south in great numbers, feeding as they skim along. I have counted 
several hundreds pass within sight in less than a quarter of an hour, all 
directing their course towards the south. The reeds are now their regu- 
lar roosting places ; and about the middle of September there is scarcely 
an individual of them to be seen. How far south they continue their 
route is uncertain ; none of them remain in the United States. Mr. 
Bartram informs me, that during his residence in Florida, he often saw 
vast flocks of this and our other Swallows, passing from the peninsula 
towards the south in September and October ; and also on their return 
to the north about the middle of March. It is highly probable, that 
