Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-05-28
SWIFT ON THE WING
THE SWALLOW Is THE MOST PER
Feet OF FLYING MACHINES.
A Very Useful Neighbor-He Does No
Harm, but Does Lots Of
Good.

Written for The Evening Star
I wonder If 1t would be possible to inn
agine a more perfect flying machine than
a swallow. Even though we may not be
specially interested in birds, we can scarce
ly watch the flight of a barn swallow for
five minutes without a feeling of intense
admiration Mark him as he swings high
overhead, bending his easy fight to the
right or left, as the movements of his agile
prey dictate; now watch him as he drops
gracefully to the level of the tall grass,
the tops of which he fans into sudden mo-
ton with the breath of his long quick PIN
ions. Now straight toward you he comes,
like a purple-feathered arrow which must
transix your body, but with a subtle turn
whose details no human eye can see he
passes close above your head. and you hear
the light swish of those marvellous wings.
Then he is gone, and, turning, you see him
floating along close to the grass again,
and on to some quiet pond whose shining
surface breaks out into ripples at the deli
cate touch.
Moving with speed which would prob
ably enable him to leave an express train
far behind, he gives no suggestion of hurry;
there seems to be a reserve of power in
that slight but steel-built frame, which, IL
he but willed it, would carry him five times
faster. knowing the wonderful speed at
which he goes about his daily work, does
it not make you catch your breath to think
what he might do If put to it, in a race,
and the race were for his life? And If
barn swallows could appreciate joke,
how they would smile at the best efforts of
Mr.. Santos-Dumont and the other flying
machine men during the airship contests
at st. Louis!
A Beautiful Bird.
So fast-moving are the swallows that 1t
is often difficult for bird students to iden.i-
fly them on the wing. The barn swallow is
perhaps the best-known of all, his deeply
forl1ed tail alone making 1t fairly easy to
recognize him. Aside from his fight he is
a very beautiful bird. His upper parts are
steely blue. and reflect the sunlight in
wondrous shades during his aerial turnings
and fwistings. His forehead, throat and
upper breast are chestnut rufous. and there
is a thin wash of the same color over the
rest of his underparts.
In his nesting habits the barn swallow
exhibits what to us seem to be strange
preferences, coming year after year To
rear his young in certain barns and out
buildings, yet strictly avoiding others
which to all appearances should suit MIN
quite as well. If not better. Sometimes the
birds build on the outside. under the caves;
at other times they take advantage of
broken window or an open door, to make
their homes against some projection on the
inside of the building. The outside of the
nest is made as most of US know, of mud,
which the birds collect from the margins
OF ponds and swamps or the surface of wet
fields. Inside there is lining of hay, and
above these there Is soft bed of feathers,
on which from four TO six very thin-shelled
eggs are laid.
These eggs which are about three-quar-
tiers of an inch in length, are white, spotted
with brown
The cliff swallow often makes his nest
under the caves of a barn also, but al
though he makes 1t of mud, 1T is of quite
different shape. Instead OF being open