BARN SWALLOW, one of the most fa miliar and widespread of North American swallows (Chelidon erythrogaster). Its plum age is lustrous blue; the forehead, chin and throat dull chestnut, bounded by a collar-like band of blue across the chest, below which the plumage is pale reddish-brown. By its deeply forked tail it is readily distinguished from the square-tailed cliff-swallow, which also throngs about barns and often is wrongly termed barn swallow; but the latter invariably puts its flask shaped nests under the eaves outside of the structure, while the true barn swallow invaria bly nests inside the building. These birds have remarkable wing power, flying for many miles at a time at the rate of more than a mile a minute, with consummate grace and ease, and catching in the air all their food, which con sists of winged insects, many of which are in jurious or annoying to man, so that their pres ence is of decided benefit, as well as a pleasant accompaniment of rural life. Before the coun try was densely populated the swallows made their homes in caves, or in niches of rocks, or hollow trees, but ever since the civilization of the country began, these trustful birds have built their nests close to man's habitations, everywhere frequenting barns and outhouses.
Their nest is composed of layers of mud, about an inch thick, plentifully mixed with straw, and lined with feathers. They usually rear two broods a season — the first in May, and the sec ond in July. The eggs are four to six in number, white, with red and purple spots and splashes nearly covering the larger end. When the second brood of young are capable of using their wiigs, the swallows congregate in flocks of thousands, and migrate southward, travel ing by daylight, instead of at night, as is the custom of most migratory birds. In the north eastern part of the country, the barn swallows have been nearly exterminated by the English sparrow, who seize their nest for their own breeding purposes and destroy their eggs and young in a ruthless way, often, apparently, in a spirit of malicious mischief.