254 
BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
these birds collect in flocks (numbering- sometimes several hundred each), 
which for a brief period linger about meadows along rivers or other 
large bodies of water, and then wend their way southward. Since the 
advent of the proliflc English Sparrow, martins have abandoned many 
of their nesting-places in towns and cities. Dr. John E. Everhart, of 
West Chester, Pa., appreciating that his flock of chattering martins was 
rapidly diminishing before the advances of the sparrows, some few years 
ago erected in his yard a large pole with cross-pieces, from which were 
suspended, by brass wire chains, each about eighteen inches long, a 
number of boxes, in which the martins, also wrens and bluebirds, nest 
without any trouble from their common feathered enemy The sway- 
ing motion of these pendant boxes appears to frighten the sparrows, as 
not one has ever been observed to alight on or enter them. 
“The martin differs from all the rest of our swallows in the particular 
prey which he selects. Wasps, bees, beetles, particularly those called 
by boys Goldsmiths, seem his favorite game. I have taken four of these 
large l)eetles from the stomach of a Purple Martin, each of which seemed 
entire, and even unbruised.” — Wilson. 
Genus PETROCHELIDON Oabanis. 
Petrochelidon lunifrons (Say ). 
Cliff Swallow. 
Description (Plate 54 , adults and nests). 
Length about 5| ; extent about 12 inches ; tail nearly even or very slightly forked ; 
bill black ; legs and eyes brown ; top and back of head, back and a spot on throat 
lust rous blue-black ; wings and tail blackish, slightly glossed ; grayish- brown band 
on hind neck ; forehead white or light-brown ; chin, throat and sides of head dark 
chestnut, rump same, but lighter ; breast brownish-yellow, whitening on the belly. 
Sexes similar ; the young, although generally duller in colors, greatly resemble the 
adults. 
Habitat. — North America at large, and south to Brazil and Paraguay. 
Common summer resident ; generally distributed throughout the 
state. Breeds mostly in colonies of from twenty to forty individuals ; 
sometimes, however, as many as flfty or seventy-five nests are found 
together. Although I have known these birds to breed, for three con- 
secutive seasons, under the eaves of long sheds in a cow-yard, I am in- 
clined to think that they usually breed but one season in the same place. 
The Cliff Swallow arrives here about the last week in April and disap- 
pears early in September. This bird when flying can easily be dis- 
tinguished from other swallows by its almost even tail feathers and the 
conspicuous rusty-colored rump. During migrations this species is 
found in greatest numbers in the vicinity of rivers, ponds and lakes. 
I am indebted to Dr. H. D. Moore, of Somerset county, for the follow- 
ing interesting letter relative to nest building of the Cliff Swallow 
