Pome soap GING baUsLEL Estat i i, 
theirs, for this was a year of extreme drought. The duck pond was 
nearly dry. Mud was almost impossible to find. This was a real hard- 
ship and our colony dwindled to perhaps not more than a dozen pairs 
of nesting birds. Their effort to obtain building material was really 
pathetic. Nest after nest fell from the wall for lack of proper mois- 
ture. At last a very few imperfect nests were completed, most of them 
little open saucer-like affairs in which the young were finally hatched. 
By this time the colony presented a very sad appearance. Failure 
seemed inevitable. May 1935 came, but no swallows. 
Two years later, again on a May evening, in the same meadow 
before mentioned my brother and I noticed cliff swallows in numbers 
much greater than ever before. To our surprise and delight not half 
a mile away we discovered the new home-site, much more attractive 
than the last. 
A barn belonging to an old farmhouse now stands at the very 
edge of a small cemetery. The building itself is picturesque, having a 
steep roof and deeply overhanging eaves which drop low at the rear. 
Here we counted upwards of seventy nests, each a perfect flask-like 
structure, built of the usual pellets of clay. The whole arrangement 
affords splendid opportunity for observation, the nests being scarcely 
ten feet from the ground, tucked in symmetrically against each rafter. 
The set-up seems quite ideal—the barn is scarcely visible from the 
road, a heavy gate discourages intrusion from the cemetery side, and 
the people at the farm are not the “barn dance type.” The swallows 
undoubtedly came under the leadership of the survivors of the original 
colony and are prospering under better living conditions. Long may 
they thrive! 
Chicago, Ill. ae 
A City Back Yard 
By Doris A. PLAPP 
OUR BACK YARD is a city yard, ten miles from the loop, and not close 
to any wooded area. All the neighbors including ourselves enjoy their 
yards and plant them with all kinds of flowers, shrubs, and trees. It is 
natural that we should have some wildlife. Several years ago we 
became aware that some cardinals had come to our community. This 
fact and my increasing interest in birds led me to put out the first dish 
of sunflower seed, on the gate post close to the house. It was probably 
the first time these birds were treated especially to one of their choice 
bits of diet and they straightway paid us regular visits. Of course 
the squirrels did the same and took the largest share and made the 
greatest accumulation of shells, but we could not object too strenuously. 
Perhaps, I thought, they will be less eager in hunting birds’ eggs if 
they fill up on seed. Bluejays came too and made use of the seed: 
however it is a laborious process for them to clamp down a seed with 
one foot and whack away at it with their bills to get out the kernel, 
but it seems to be worth while. All this time we came to appreciate 
the added color in our yard, the gorgeous blue of the jay and brilliant 
