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A YEAR WITH THE BIRDS 
Tree Swallow: Tachycineta bicolor. S. R. 
White-bellied Swallow 
Length: 6 inches. 
Male and Female: Entire upper parts iridescent green, inclined to 
black on wings and tail. Under parts soft white. Bill black, 
feet dark. Female dull. 
Song: A warbling twitter. 
Season: April to the middle of September. A few stragglers remain 
later. 
Nest: In dead trees, often in great colonies; here I have seen two or 
three pairs occupying old Woodpecker holes in telegraph poles. 
Eggs: 4-9, usually 6, pure white. 
She is here, she is here, the Swallow ! 
Fair seasons bringing, fair years to follow ! 
Her belly is white, 
Her back black as night. 
— Greek Swallow Song, J. A. Symonds, Trans. 
The Tree, or White-bellied, Swallow seems nearly to cor- 
respond with the bird which was the herald of spring 1 in 
Greece; for though our Swallow is a beautiful green above, 
except when at close range or when the light glances across 
its feathers, it appears black. The Tree Swallow, in times 
before the country was inhabited by white men, like many 
of its family, lived in hollow trees, but it now nests in Martin 
boxes and other convenient nooks, though it may be still 
found colonizing in old sycamores and willows. 
SWALLOW MANOEUVRES 
On October 3, 1899, my attention was called to a huge 
flock of Tree Swallows about a quarter of a mile from my home. 
These birds are abundant here from July to October, but on 
this occasion at least 2,000 — estimating from photographs 
and from the counting of the live birds — were collected on 
the telegraph wires and in the adjoining fields, and not a single 
specimen of any other species could be found in the flock. 
On the wires were hundreds at a time, crowded together 
between three poles ; they seemed to have lost their usual fear 
of man, remaining even when carriages went under them, and 
not always starting up when the wires were struck by a stone — 
a temptation to throw which the passing small boys found it 
impossible to resist. 
Beside the road is a small brook with two or three exposed 
