SWALLOWS: NORTHERN VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW 455 
their young calling from inside, for they gave a touch of life and cheer 
to an otherwise desolate place. 
In the Hondo Valley, where there were other kinds of swallows, 
their shining white underparts and white rump patches set them apart 
from the rest. They were frequently seen along our way from Hondo 
Canyon to the Costilla River, being abundant at 9,700 feet on the 
Costilla, but most of all at 9,400 feet in Costilla Canyon, where they 
fairly swarmed over the river. They were occasionally noted in 1906 
along Santa Clara Canyon in the Jemez Mountains in the yellow pine 
section, but the main flock was found just below “Sloan Camp” at 
7,000 feet, where the creek was wide and quiet and the canyon bottom 
open. Here, in the early morning of August 21, it was with keen 
pleasure that I watched them beating back and forth low over a grassy 
flat by the creek, flying over the stream dipping down for a drink; 
then rising high above the water to fly about in the sky. 
Large numbers were seen by Mr. Gaut flying about the high rock 
cliffs near the southeast end of the Capitan Mountains from July 16 to 
28, 1903. Every morning they traveled a distance of several miles 
to get water from a tank. In the middle of the day and again at 
night they would appear at this same tank. Small numbers were 
found about the high bowlders near Tres Piedras early in August, 
1904, and several young were seen every day perched on a high dead 
pine near the bowlders, where the old birds brought them food. 
In the Zuni Mountains, Major Goldman found the Violet-greens 
quite common and generally distributed. At McGaffy’s Camp in 
June, 1909, they were seen passing in and out of holes in a tall, dead 
pine stub close to the barn, and they circled back and forth all day 
over a small open meadow. 
About Santa Fe, Mr. Jensen says, they nest commonly in wood¬ 
pecker holes in the dead tops of large pines or in a hole in a quaking 
aspen. In the Santa Fe Canyon, he has found about twenty pairs 
building in crevices in Monument Rock, a spectacular place, a hundred- 
and-fifty foot sandstone cliff jutting out from the canyon like a steeple. 
At an altitude of 7,000 feet, he says they nest from June 1 to June 15, 
but at 8,000 feet nesting does not commence until some time in July. 
On the Upper Pecos, where Mr. Henshaw and Doctor Nelson 
spent the summer of 1883, “after the young were on the wing, the 
birds left the pine woods and resorted to the tops of the ridges and 
the open valleys, where high in mid-air, they were seen busily hunting 
for insects” (1885, p. 333). 
In Oregon, the Violet-green is said to be very partial to nesting 
boxes. The boxes need to be well out of the reach of cats and firmly 
attached to a building, and the best form is that made from a small 
tree trunk. From his experience, Supt. L. R. Alderman of Eugene says 
