Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-08-03

made lar anu near, for the right feather {
straw to furnish this apartment. BY III
last OF June the young were Matched, and
required the best efforts of the old birds
keep those hungry little beaks well filled
Beth are constantly on the wing. Ate
dividing and delivering the prize one skurre
OFF, making bold dash at your head
should you chance TO be near, and fey
hasty gyrations IN the neighborhood
and then hastcs of to conduct bust
ness-likc search for food. The other la
meantime been to the nest and distribute,
its burden. Then in moment the frs
returns dragging in a slim dragon-ny, ,
poor beetle or helpless moth or some othel
vagrant, and So on, day after day until the
young arc strong enough to fly. In returnin!
with anything the birds would sail leisurel,
about, gradually approaching the nest, ant
then suddenly dive in, or catching OF
with their feet, stand in the door and dis
burse the spoils.
The graceful flight of this bird have al
ready alluded to. II is so marked trait the
bird might merit the name OF the sailing
martin.
But better-known member of the family
is the social and abundant
Barn swallow ar. horrcorum, Bart,) \,
graceful and rather handsome bird Though
so swift llier you rarely get him at far
view, clad in a polished "swallow-tailed''
coat of steel blue, neckaced with the same,
and with chestnut tiDge on the breast,
They arrive sometime in April and seem to
prefer those old, weather beaten, stone color
ca barns which have an air Of hospitality and
abandon about them, not so noticeable in
their successors of the present generation
Here on the beams within, are built their
adobe structures, a nest of straw and feath-
ers founded upon a masonry of mud with
grass and hair intcrmingled. As the insects
were the inventors of paper, so were :, the
birds the first masons. Their four or five
white, reddish spotted eggs are laid as early
as the middle OF May, though often not until
the first OF June, and second brood usually
follows.
On the 9th of July squeakiug chorus of
voices attracted my attention, which proved
to come from five young barn swallows, now
fully grown, apparently, sitting in line on a
feeding them. They were well disciplined
family and their manners reflected credit on
their parents. When mother-swallow ap-
preached with fly they all opened their
mouths and shouted "ncxt," but kept their
places nevertheless. There was no crowd
ing or Glowing. Each awaited his turn and
us rule the provisions were evenly distri-
Duted. Now number one gets good fat in
sect, then number four is served twice. then
the intermediate ones are fed and SO on round
again.
1t would be interesting to learn how many
insects pair of barn swallows capture in q
day for themselves and family of five. To
see them so actively engaged, coming every
few moments with mouth full, many hun
dred would seem to hardly satisfy the
demand. But should we allow them a thous-
and all told, and reflect that each perfectly
developed insect thus destroyed was capable
of producing dozens or even hundreds of its
kind, we can form an idea of the mass of
vcrmin company Of these birds will destroy
in season in the vicinity Of a single farm.
For although few hasty strides may take
them to the lake or river, where they love to
sport and skim the water and ''hawk" for
insects, yet the greater part OF their prey is
secured in the fields and meadows of the
farms they tenant
But the true ''mason of his walls of clay"
among our birds, is the Mud" or
Fave swallow PetrocheIidon Iunifr.
ons, Cab.)
Their curious, clayeY nests are attached in
line under the caves, or where these are
denied them, under the more primitive caves
of some rugged bluff or rocky cscarpment,
as along the prcciptous banks of the rivers
of the west. Mere ''mud-retorts," built up
of pellets of clay and fine stubblc intermix-
ed, are their queer plaster houses, with
an entrance AT the ''nosc," u wcll-arched
circular opening, from which you may sec
the dusly head with white forehead of
lunifrons emerging. This crude apartment
is furnished with little straw for the rccep-
ton OF the eggs, which are u tribe larger than
the barn-swallOws, but otherwise resemble
them.
a curious trick of the English sparrow in
connection with these birds came recently to
my notice at Basin llarbor on Lake Cham
plain. When the "masons" had completed
their work, these impudent sparrows routed
them out, took possession of the mud house, s
and then furnished them to their own
taste.
Another bird that believes in communisllc
principles is the
sand Martin (Ccotlle rIparIa, Boie,),
or Bank Swallow, which is the miner of the
family, but laboring in that capacity only to
excavate his own dwellings. On the
shore of Lake Champlaln, the ''wash"
OF stream made smart jog in the high
sandy bank presenting two opposite faces
Of banded iron-statned sand and clay. Nor
were the martins slow to find so good a
location, and by the last of May twenty
eight of these holes could be counted in all
stages of progress some with newly-laid
eggs, others half drilled, and still more with
only the site determined, This was the
poetic stage of "house building" Not yet
had they settled down to the business. How
they swarm, circling about their holes AT
the least signal off they all dart, keeping up
the while their harsh rafting chatter. Now
one dashes into hole and kicks out little
sand, then out again and of for few turns
in the air. Three cling 10 the same entrance
and enter into sharp controversy for the
ownership. Some slight mistake has evil
IDENTIFY been made but argument prevails not,
and the two, doubtless rightful occupants,
seek to dislodge the intruder. Another bird
is beginning new hole, using beak and
claw, turning about to measure and shape
with her body, the opening But this is
only pldynork. They throw out but a
shOceLtul at time, and then are Off again for
little sport.
more, and you find wiso of grass with a
~" lihS hNN''SS peihopSt ouu
laid thereon four or five creamy white, I'M
maculatc eggs.
The tyrant among the swallows is the
Purple Martin (Progme subis, BdI,
that rather large, buish-b!ack sharp-voiced
bird, which is occasionally seen in small
parties occupying an artificial house OF
cupola, Their distribution is sort of or.
astrological puzzle being AS rare or wholly
unknown in some localities as they are abun.
dant in others.
At Cape Cod they are said to be particu.
larly numerous. A small squad used regu.
larly TO spend the summer Mt Hanover, N.
ii. believe they reside at Mortified, VI, il
summer, and doubtless in many other town
of the State. Their distribution, however
unlike that of the others, is Of II purely loca
| character.
J. VI. Ilayen's bankruptcy.