ms, but are all warmly lined
with grass and feathers. In some localities, cliffs resemble bee hives,
they having thousands of these nests side by side and in tiers. Their
eggs are creamy white spotted with reddish brown; size .80 x .55 with
great variations. Data.--Rockford, Minn., June 12, 1890. Nest made of
mud, lined with feathers; placed under the eaves of a freight house.

612.1. CUBAN CLIFF SWALLOW. _Petrochelidon fulva._

Range.--West Indies and Central America; accidental on Florida Keys.

613. BARN SWALLOW. _Hirundo erythrogastra._

Range.--Whole of North America; winters south to South America.

This Swallow is the most beautiful and graceful of the family, and is a
familiar sight to everyone, skimming over the meadows and ponds in long
graceful sweeps, curves and turns, its lengthened outer tail feathers
streaming behind. Throughout their range, they nest in barns, sheds or
any building where they will not be often disturbed, making their nests
of mud and attaching them to the rafters; they are warmly lined with
feathers and the outside is rough, caused by the pellets which they
place on the exterior. Before the advent of civilized man, they attached
their nests to the sides of caves, in crevices among rocks and in hollow
trees, as they do now in some localities. Their eggs cannot be
distinguished from those of the Cliff Swallow. Data.--Penikese Is.,
Mass., July 2, 1900. Nest on beam in sheep shed; made of pellets of mud,
lined with feathers.

614. TREE SWALLOW; White-bellied Swallow. _Iridoprocne bicolor._

Range.--Whole of temperate North America, breeding from middle United
States northward; winters in the Gulf States and along the Mexican
border and southward.

This vivacious and active species is as well known as the last, and
nests about habitations on the outskirts of cities and in the country.

[Illustration 375: Barn Swallow.]
[Illustration: White.]
[Illustration: Tree Swallow.]
[Illustration: deco.]
[Illustration: right hand margin.]

Page 374

They naturally nest in holes in trees or stumps, preferable in the
vicinity of water, but large numbers now take up their abode in houses
provided for them by man, providing that English Sparrows are kept away.
They make their nests of straws and grasses, lined with feathers, and
lay four to six plain white eggs; size .75 x .50. Data.--Portage, Mich.,
May 26, 1897. Nest in a gate post; hole about 6 inches deep, lined with
feathers.

615