182 
THE BAEli SWALLOW. 
and affords sufficient room, you find several nests together, and in' some 
instances I have seen seven or eight within a few inches of each other ; nay, . 
in some large barns I have counted forty, fifty, or more. The male and the 
female both betake themselves to the borders of creeks, rivers, ponds, or 
lakes, where they form small pellets of mud or moist' earth, which they 
carry in their bill to the chosen spot, and place against the wood, the wall, 
or the rock, as it may chance to be. They, dispose of these pellets in regular 
lays, mixing, especially with the lower, a considerable quantity of'long 
slender grasses, which often dangle for several inches beneath the bottom of 
the nest. The first layers are short, but the rest gradually increase in length, 
as the birds proceed upwards with their work, until they reach the top, when 
the fabric resembles the section of an inverted cone, the length being eight- 
inches, and the greatest diameter six, while that from the wall or other flat 
surface to the outside of the shell is three and a half, and the latter is fully 
an inch thick. I have never observed in a newly finished nest, the expan- 
sion of the upper- layer mentioned by Wilson, although I have frequently 
seen it in one that has been repaired or enlarged. The average weight of 
such a nest as I have described is more than two pounds, but there is consi- 
derable difference as to size between different nests, some being shorter by 
two or three inches, and proportionally narrow at the top. These differences 
depend much on the time the birds have to construct their tenement pre- 
vious to depositing the eggs. Now and then I have seen some formed at a 
late period, that were altogether destitute of the intermixture of grass with 
the mud observed in the nest described above, which was a perfect one, and 
had occupied the birds seven days in constructing it, during which period 
they laboured from sunrise until dusk, with an intermission of several hours 
in the middle of the day. Within the shell of mud is a bed, several inches 
thick, of slender grasses arranged in a circular form, over which is placed a 
quantity of large soft feathers. I never saw one of these nests in a chimney, 
nor have I ever heard of their occurring in such situations, they being usually 
occupied by the American Swift, which is a more powerful bird, and may 
perhaps prevent the Barn Swallow from entering. The eggs are from four 
to six, rather small and elongated, semi-translucent, white, and sparingly 
spotted all ‘over with reddish-brown. The period of incubation is thirteen 
days, and both sexes sit, although not for the same length of time, the female 
performing the greater part of the task. Each provides the other with food 
on this occasion, and both rest at night beside each other in the nest. In 
South Carolina, where a few breed, the nest is formed in the beginning of 
April, and in Kentucky about the first of May. 
When the young have attained a considerable size, the parents, who feed 
them with much care and affection, roost in the nearest convenient place. 
