when tlie whole mass, perhaps twenty foot wide and four foot deep, will break off and bo
daslied to pieces at the foot of tbe crag. Such a catastrophe is a frequent result of tho
l)assion the birds have for huddling thoir homos togetlier; ami there is a possible moral
in it, looking towards a necessary cheek upon the enormous increase of a species otherwise
almost wholly safe from enemies or accident.
“ How each Swallow knows which of all those round iiolcs, looking (to our eyes) so
exactly alike, is his own, is a marvel; yet no greater one, perhaps, than the wonderment
of the country boy at the readiness with which his city friend finds his own door among
tlie long blocks of uniform brown stone or marble fronts covering Murray Hill and the
region about Central Park. Tlie Swallows seem to dwell at peace in tlieir city, and
to be neighbourly, for it often happens that other species of Swallows will nestle close
by; and in Dakota Dr. Coues saw them living iu close proximity to Buzzards and
Falcons, yet .npparently on good terms with their powerful neighbours. Dr. Cooper
mentions, however, that in Alontaiia the blue birds often ‘jumped’ Swallows’ nests
and held possession successfully. Tho most remarkable instance of fraternity is related
by Mr. J. A. Allen, who saw them at Topeka, Kansas (where also they nested about
dwellings), ‘ frequenting the holes in the banks of the Kaw liiver made by the Sand-
Martin, keeping iu the company of tliose birds, entering their holes, and presenting the
same appearance of breeding in them as the Sand-AIartiu.s themselves.’ Afterwards
Mr. Allen discovered them occupying niches of rock in Dakota.
“ So mueh for the manners of the Cliff or llepublican Swallows, in their uncivilised
life. AVhen white men invaded tlieir wilderness, erecting houses and barns, these birds
were qui(;k to perceive their availability, aud tbe more knowing ones instantly abandoned
tlie always insecure rocks for the greater stability and protection of eaves and rafters;
for which, indeed, they already had a sort of precedent iu tlie practice of some Californian
colonies, which occupied now and then the trunks and branches of large trees {vide
Cooper) as building sites. This adoption of the new custom happened at once in all
parts of the country. Tlicrc was no hesitation or experiment or doubt about the matter
at all. The first squatter was welcomed as an old friend by the Swallows, who instantly
made themselves at home ou his premises; tho most venturesome pioneer in the Indian
couutry, and the remotest fiir-trader among the lakes of British America, were each
cheered by the companionsliip of these affectionate feathered settlers.
“ The facility witli w’hich the Hirundinidic adapt themselves to new circumstances
is proverbial. Changes in the arcliitecturc might therefore have been looked for here,
and are really to be found, all tending toward greater convenience aud dispensing with
useless labour. In building and repairing their nests they work with great diligence and
marvellous celerity. ‘ Where they exist in a large colony,’ to quote tlie late Dr. Brewer,
‘ it is not an uncommon tiling to see several birds at work upon the same nest—ono bird,
apparently tho female owner, always assisting and directing the whole.’ Wlien a pair
are at labour, they work in turn, first making a shelf upon which the workman stands
and builds out tbe nest fi'om ivithin, making the inside smooth, but leaving the outside
as rough as cobble-work. If, as frequently happens, eggs are laid before the whole
structure is completed, the female drops her labour, and tlie male finishes tlie dwelling.
This business is said to occupy them six Aiys ; no doubt the time required varies,
depending on the weather, and is often much less. Tlioy show extreme persistence.
You may pull down their nests many times before they will abandon a chosen site, and
they love to return to the same spot year after year.
“ That the mnd out of which the shells are composed owes its adhesiveness to a
sticky saliva with wliich it is mixed, I do not believe to be true to any noteworthy extent.
Altliough in their globular shape and position they will resist a winter’s storm, if once
lowei*ed from tlicir fastenings, or cracked, they crumble very easily. Lining, properly
speaking, there is none ; but the eggs repose on a more or less scanty pallet of straw and
feathers, with ivool, fur, &c., in proportion to the coldness of tho climate.
“ Where tbe nests are simply plastered on tlie outside of a barn, underneath tbe projecting
eaves, as is common, tbe aboriginal shape is well preserved, and you cannot
reach^the eggs witliout breaking away the bottle-neck entrance; but if the Swallows
have learned enough to go inside, or wherever they find some snug corner, their labour
is lessened, aud a structure results that owes its shape to its position, and hence may be
widely abnormal, lacking perhaps the narrow neck, or, if adequately sheltered, the
whole dome, and assuming simply a hemispherical hoivl form, like the lower half of tho
original retort. This is very likely to be almost wholly the shape seen iu long-settled
districts.
“ The Cliff-Swallows appear to be irregular in their laying. Alany records show
that large embryos will be found in some nests of a colony where other bmls were just
eomjileting their houses or had laid the first egg. The Swallow villages are thius
populous and busy from tbe first return of their denizens until the September migration,
when many helpless lledglings aud useless eggs are always left behind. Two broods are
generally safely raised, uevorthelcss.
“ The ordinary clutch is from four to six eggs. When a larger number occurs, it is
attributed to the laying of two females in the same nest—a thing very likely to occur
now and then among birds so communistic iu tlicir notions ; but I have no proof of it.
The colour of the egg is dull white, peppered with infinitesimal points of red, and (on tlie
big end) marked ivith blotches of dead clay-brown, others of a deep wine colour aud
fainter suffusions of purple. But the patterns are very variable, and often closely
approach those of their neighbours, the Barn-Swallows (Hirundo ¡lorreorum).
“ In sitting, the female is said to be occasionally relieved by the male. But for the
most part he busies himself in getting food, and in bravely and vengcfully guarding liis
home, the whole fightÍDg strength of tho community mustering at his alarm to repel
some real or fancied enemy with a courage wliich, if its power equalled its fury, would
be irresistible.”
Mr. F. H. Knowlton, writing in 1881 from Brandon, Vermont, gives some interesting
information respecting the habits of the present species:—