The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-05-28

as the movements of his agile prey dictatei now watch him as he drops gracefully to the level of the tall grass the tops of which he fans into sudden motion with the breath of his long quick pinions. Now straight toward you he comes. like a purple-feathered arrow which must transfix your body but with 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 Triples at the delicate touch. Moving with speed which would probably enable him to leave an express train far behind, he gives no suggestion Of hurry; there seems to be 8 reserve of power in that slight but steel-built frame, which, if 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 race and the race were for life? And if barn swallows could appreciate joke, how they would smile at the best ef- forts of MT. Santos -Dumont and the |other flying machine men during the air-ship contests at St. Louis!
 So fast-moving are the swallows, that it is often difficult for bird stu dents to identify them on the wing. The barn swallow is perhaps the best known of all his deeply-forked tail alone mak- ing it fairly easy to recognize him. Aside from his flight he is a very beau tiful bird. His upper parts are steely
 blue, and reflect the sunlight in won drous shades during his aerial turnings and twistings. 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.
 Tn his nesting habits, the barn swal- low exhibits what to us seem to be strange preferences, coming year after year to rear his young in certain barns and outbuildings, yet strictly avoiding others which to all appearances should suit him quite as we'll if not better. Sometimes the birds build on the the outside, under the caves: at other times they take advantage of a broken win dow 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 a lining of hay, and above these there is a soft bed of feathers, on which from four to six very thin shelled eggs are laid.
 These eggs, which are about three quarters of an inch in length are white spotted with brown.
 The chief swallow often makes his nest under the caves of a barn also, but. although he makes it of mud, it is of quite different shape. Instead of being open at the top, like that of the barn swallow, it is roofed over, and has round entrance-hole at the side, The eggs, four or five in number, are similar to those of the barn swallow, but larger, as a rule. This bird is of local distribution, and may be common in one town, and almost unknown in the next. Three years ago, I watched a small colony of these birds building at Stoneham, Mass, or I should say, trying to build," for not one of them completed a nest. The trouble was with the material. For some reason they perished in collecting sandy mud, which stuck together very well while it was wet, but which fell apart as soon as it was dry. No sooner was a nest well on the road to completion, than down it fell, and, although the birds were very persistent, and tried it over and over again for many weeks, they finally went away without laying an egg. Had they been observant and receptive. even to a small degree it would seem that they might have taken the cue from the barn swallows which were building on the inside of the same barn. These birds obtained their mud from a different source, and. as it was of the right quality. it held together, and enabled them to rear their young at the first attempt
 This bird need never be mistaken for tHe barn swallow, it for no other req
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