NESTLINGS OF FOREST AND MARSH 
a species. Formerly these little masons 
were cliff-dwellers, and hung their adobe 
nests on the perpendicular surface of a canon. 
But the advent of civilization offered them 
the advantage of homes under the protection 
of man, and like many of our Little 
Brothers of the air ” they readily accepted. 
Nowadays it is not uncommon to find from 
fifty to a hundred of these nests beneath the 
eaves of a country barn, and the farmers are 
superstitious about disturbing them. Prob- 
ably the birds choose this location on 
account of the myriads of insects always to 
be found near a barnyard. The same colony 
returns year after year to occupy the old 
nesting-site and as many of the old nests as 
the winter has left intact. Often they find 
these pre-empted by the English sparrows, 
and then a battle royal ensues. In only 
one instance that has come under my obser- 
vation have the sparrows been allowed to 
remain. 
The colony of eave-swallows which I 
watched most closely was under the east and 
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