BARN SWALLOW. 
45 
In travelling* through the States of Kentucky and 
Tennesee, from Lexington to the Tennesee river, in 
the months of April and May, I did not see a single 
individual of this species ; though the purple martin, 
and, in some places, the hank swallow, was numerous. 
Early in May they begin to build. From the size 
and structure of the nest, it is nearly a week before it 
is completely finished. One of these nests, taken on 
the 21st of June from the rafter to which it was closely 
attached, is now lying before me. It is in the form of 
an inverted cone, with a perpendicular section cut off 
on that side by which it adhered to the wood. At the 
top it has an extension of the edge, or offset, for the 
male or female to sit on occasionally, as appeared by 
the dung ; the upper diameter was about six inches by 
five, the height externally seven inches. This shell is 
formed of mud, mixed with fine hay, as plasterers do 
their mortar with hair, to make it adhere the better ; 
the mud seems to have been placed in regular strata, 
or layers, from side to side ; the hollow of this cone 
(the shell of which is about an inch in thickness) is 
filled with fine hay, well stuffed in ; above that is laid 
a handful of very large downy geese feathers ; the eggs 
are five, white, specked, and spotted all over with 
reddish brown. Owing to the semitransparency of the 
shell, the eggs have a slight tinge of flesh colour. The 
whole weighs about two pounds. 
They have generally two brood in the season. The 
first make their appearance about the second week in 
June ; and the last brood leave the nest about the 10th 
of August. Though it is not uncommon for twenty, 
and even thirty, pair to build in the same barn, yet 
every thing seems to be conducted with great order 
and affection ; all seems harmony among them, as if the 
interest of each were that of all. Several nests are 
often within a few inches of each other; yet no appear- 
ance of discord or quarrelling takes place in this peaceful 
and affectionate community. 
When the young are fit to leave the nest, the old 
ones entice them out by fluttering backwards and 
