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Bakn Swallow, {Hirundo erythrog astro,). 
Abundant Summer resident. Arrives from April 
25th to May 4tli. Breeds, making its nest 
against rafters in barns and other outbuildings. 
Among our birds no species occupy a stronger 
place in my admiration than the Barn Swallow. 
Long before tastes which developed later had 
manifested an existence, the “ Fork-tailed Swal- 
low” was a well known object to my youthful 
eye. Later in life as I drove the mowing ma- 
chine and hay tedder, scores of them were my 
companions, circling about me hour after hour, 
catching with an ease and precision that ever 
called forth my deepest admiration, the countless 
insects which the machine disturbed from their 
retreat in the grass. Another feature of this swal- 
low which always pleased me was their prompt- 
ness in the field upon such occasions. No wait- 
ing for them until the work was half completed, 
they were there at the start be it morning, noon, 
or evening, and often have they followed me un- 
til darkness closed around us. Once 1 saw a man 
set his dog upon a neighbor’s hens that had gone 
upon his newly sown grain field. One was soon 
nearly stripped of her feathers, when almost in- 
stantly a colony of Barn Swallows which were 
repairing their previously occupied nests in an 
old barn one-lourth of a mile away, appeared on 
the scene and in a wonderfully short time carried 
the feathers to their nests. 
&.0.9Zui^, &fu#aet'$#r. 
O.&O. X. May. 1885. p.;/ 
Smith, National Museum , Washington, L). <- 
pest of the Barn Swallow 
e something of a curiosity, 
.nd, Virginia, July 7, 1884, 
in the settlement. It was 
and was thickly lined with 
If inches in diameter and 
ggs. The writer is wholly 
usual style of architecture 
ply no dearth of mud out 
pproved type. — Hugh M. 
Auk, 3. April, 1880, p. 
H 
16 i 
