■
ti.e Cliff-Swallows were so numerous as to become a nuisance ; tl.eir iucessant twittcrin«
was considered a bore, while the litter tliev brought and their droppings resulted iu ?a
sad hreaeii of military decorum. Nevertheless, it was found almost impossililc to
. islodge them, and one could not hut admire the courage and perseverance wliich thev
I isplajed m reconstructing or repairing tlieir nests, tliougli tliese were repeatedl'v
dcstroyed. In examining scores of nests, I was ratlier surprised to find how small a
proportion was finished into the complete retort-sliapc, even among tllose wliicli had
not been disturbed. Some were little more than enps, like tliose of the Barn-Swallow
partially arched over, aud many were simply conical, while in other details they varied
greatly according to the position in which they liappened to be fixed, or their relations
to each other. The laying-season in this latitude is at its heiglit during tlie second ami
third weeks m June. Probably only one brood is reared eaeli season. Young hirds arc
on tlio wing by the middle or latter part of July.”
Messrs. lloherts and Benner state tliat tiioy found tlie Cliff-Swallow common in
Miimesota, aud Mr, Evermann says that in Indiana it is an aliundant slimmer resident.
lo tlie eastward it is recorded liy Mr. Dwight in his paper on the summer birds of
Cape Breton Island. He writes “ At AVhyoooomagli, 20 miles south-west of Baddock
I saw the first flock of Swallows (mostly Bank and Cliff Swallows) ostentatiously readi’
to migrate. The latter species was stilt hroeding on barns in two localities I Visited
but not abundantly. There were not many nests, all told.”
Mr. Batcliclder states tliat in New Brunswick he found the species common at
(rrand Falls on the Upper St. John, and it was also abundant at Fort Fairfield.
“ These Swallows,” writes Mr. Steams, “ enter and leave New England about tlie
same time that tlie Barn-Swallows do, and are among our oommon summer birds. Tliev
arc more numerous and more equally dispersed in settled districts tliaii formerly • hut I
flunk tliat a good deal that lias been written of their supposed iiTuption from the AVest is
to be taken with salt. Some records liave been laboriously oollccted to show the dates
of appearance of these hirds in particular localities ; sucll writing lias its own interest as
a matter of fact, hut not as sustaining ‘ eastward-lio I ’ theorv. Tlie ‘ Clilf’ Swallows as
tlioir name implies, and as every one knows, naturally fix thoir queer Iiottle-iiosed nests
to the perpendicular faces of rocks and hard embankments; and have latterly aeouireil
the name of ' Eave ’ Swallow.s, from the circumstance fliat thev have readily availed
t icmselves of the eligible nesting-sites afforded hy tho walls of houses under shelter of
the caves. Therefore, the settlement of the country affords unlimited breeding resources
whcro formerly there wore none; and these Swallows have consequently become common
in New England. They were actually known in this part of the ooViitry before tlieir
discovery by Say m the West; but natural breeding-places, such as these birds require
are not to be found everywhere in tho Eastern States.”
In the State of New York it lias been recorded as breeding in the Adirondack
Mountains hy Dr. Hart Merriam. and a large series of old and voiing birds procured bv
Dr. A. K. Fisher near Sing Sing arc in the Henshaw collection. Dr. Merriam als'o
//A
obtained young birds in August near Locust Grove. Mr. Bi-ewster says that the species
is common, and breeds near Winchendon in Massachusetts; and Mr. Faxon states that
it is common in Berkshire County of the same State. “ According to Dr. Emmons, this
bird first appeared in AA'illiarastown in 1825” (Amer. Journ. Sci. & Arts, xsvi. p. 208).
Messrs. Faxon and Allen have also recorded it as common in New Haven.
The Henshaw collection contains some specimens from tho neighbourhood of
AAAasliington, procured in May and August, but Mr. llichmond considers the species to
be one of the raver birds breeding in the District of Columbia.
Mr. AA'arren gives tbe following account in his ‘ Birds of Fennsylvauia ’ :—
“ Common siuumer resident; generally distributed throughout the State. Breeds
mostly in colonies of from riventy to forty individuals ; sometimes, however, as many as
fifty or seventy-five nests are found together. Although I have known these birds to
breed, for three consecutive seasons, under the eaves of long sheds in a cow-yard, I am
inclined to think that they usually breed but one season in the same place. The Clitf-
Swallow arrives here about the last week in April, and disappears early iu September.
Tliis bird when flying can easily be distinguisbed from other Swallows by its almost even
tail-feat]lers and the conspicuous rusty-coloured rump. During migration this species is
fouud in greatest numbers iu the vicinity of rivers, ponds, and lakes.”
Mr. Rives, in his account of tbe birds noticed by him at Salt Pond Mountain iu
Virginia, states that he found a small colony of Cliff-Swallows which had attached tlieir
nests to the shed of a stable at Blacksburg. Air. Fox, writing about the birds of Roane
County, Tennessee, says that the Cliff-Swallow was only once seen by him, on the 23rd
of April, 1881, and was not observed at all by him in 1885.
In his paper on the birds observed at Bayou Sara, in Louisiana, Mr. Beckham
states that ho observed the Cliff-Swallow only once, ou the 23rd ot April.
Dr. Merrill writes of the species in T e x a s “ Very common in Southern Texas
from early in April until the latter part of August. It is one of the most abundant of
the summer visitors, and is ihe only Swallow that breeds here.” Mr. Dresser’s note is
as follows :—“ Common at San Antonio and Matamoras during the summer. At Eagle
Pass I noticed a couple ou the 7th Alarch, and on the 10th they were very numerous.
Iu July, on the way from Nuevo Laredo to Alataraoras, when seeking after water, I
saw a long cliff overliangiug a ravine, which was literally covered with the nests of these
birds.”
In bis paper on the birds of Southern Texas, Air. Beckham writes;—
“ 1 did not see this bird at San .\ntonio, but, according to Dresser, it is common
there during the sumnier. Brown records it as a common summer resident at Bocrne,
arriving there on Alarch 20th.” Air. Nehrliag states that he noticed it in great numb(n'S
iu South-eastern Texas during September, but it docs not breed in this region. According
to Air. Lloyd, it is a eommou summer visitant in ‘Western Texas, arriving early in
April. Tho species sometimes breeds in barns, aud Air. Lloyd believes that two broods
are raised, as be found his first nest under a bluff on Alay 1th, ^Yith three eggs, while