BARN-SWAL'LOW. Two distinct species of swallow frequent barns and outhouses in North America. but that to which the name properly applies, and should be restricted, is the fork-tailed one which makes its nest inside the building, while the other, square-tailed one, which nestles on the outside of the walls, should he called eaves or cliff swallow. The barn swallow proper. then, is the one named by naturalists Chelidon crythrolaster, and it is among the most Widely familiar birds of the whole Continent. It is lustrous blue above, and below is pale reddish-brown, with the forehead, chin, and throat bright chest nut, bounded by a •ollar-like band of blue across the breast; the tail is deeply forked, and each tail-feather. except the central pair, has a white spot on its inner web. These swallows arrive from the south, whera they have wintered in the tropics, in :May, and at once renew our acquaintance, perching in twittering lines upon the roadside telegraph-wires, hawking about our gardens and barn-yards for winged insects, skim ming gracefully the surface of river or pond, and alighting upon their soft banks or about puddles in the road to gather pellets of mud with which to construct their homes.
Besting Habits.—Befo•e the country was civ ilized, these swallows frequented only such parts of it as had rocky exposures, and they made their nests in niches on the face of a cliff, as they yet do in some remote parts of the western mountains. As soon, however, as stables and sheds were erected by white settlers the swal lows took possession, and this increasing and welcome acquaintance with man has continued as civilization pushed west and north, until now a swallow dwelling in aboriginal fashion is a curiosity. The nest is composed of pellets of
mud plentifully mixed with straw, and may sit flat upon a frame-beam at a safe height, when it is a simple cup; or it may be plastered, in the form of a hollow bracket, against the rafters or higher walls. Invariably, however, the nest of this species is inside the barn or shed. It is bedded with soft grass and feathers, and con tains five rather elongated, huff-white eggs, spot ted abort the large end with reddish and purple dots and splashes. These birds are not only per fectly harmless, and usually warmly welcomed for their beauty and cheer, but they consume a vast number of small insects which are more or less injurious Or annoying. It is most unfor tunate, therefore, that they seem an object of especial attack by the English sparrows, which not only seize upon many nests for their own breeding purposes, but wantonly tear many oth ers to pieces, destroying eggs and young as if in a spirit of mere malicious mischief. In this way the barn-swallows of the more northerly States and Eastern Canada have been greatly re duced and in some places exterminated. They depart for the south in flocks earlier in the autumn than do most other migrants. See SWALLOW and Plates of SWALLOWS and of EGGS Or SONG BIRDS.