The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-05-17

the poultry; for let a kingbird sight a
marauder of this sort, and he chal-
lenges him to battle at once-and so
close together is the defiance and the
beginning of the battle that they merge
into one. l said "battle:" l did not
quite mean that, for the hawk hastens
to get beyond the preserves OF this
doughty antagonist, never once paus-
ing to accept the challenge or to argue
the matter.
The kingbird is practically insectiv-
erous, though it takes small per cent
of wild fruits, such as elderberries, wild
grapes, etc, but 80 per cent of all the
food taken is of insects.
Other members of this family that
are more or less common, and may be
met with in various parts of the state,
are the olive-sided flycatcher, and the
yellow-bellied fycatcher. The last
named is rather the more common of
the two. He may be found near ranch
buildings, feeding in the characteristic
fiycatcher fashion. and often repeating
his rather pathetic call of "ohe-ur'
The Swallows.
OF much greater interest than the
hycatchers are the members of the
next family to be named-the swal-
lows.
For many reasons members of this
clan have always taken a strong hold
upon the imagination, and their early
and regular disappearance from the
scene of their summer activities has
appealed TO men in all times.
Even the prophet (Jeremiah makes
use of this well known habit as an il
lustratiOn of failure on the part of the
chosen people; and later the sudden
disappearance led to a strange belief.
which was held. not only by some of
the early observers, but also by one
of recent times, and one of the most
distinguished of our ornithologists
(Coues). This was no less than the be-
lief that these birds. in place of mi
grating to a cline where both the food
and the climate conditions were salts
factory, they-as DR.. Johnson ex-
pressed t-"conglobulated themselves
together" and settled into the mud of
"cat-holes,' where they hibernated for
the winter.
These interesting policemen of the
air" are we'll represented i'm our state
representatives of the seven species
that are TO be found in the United
States are also to be found in Utah.
The Sand Martin.
TIE
most numerous of the swallow tribe is
the sand martin, or sand swallow, or
bank swallow. They are to be found
wherever the banks-in which nests
can be built-are available for the pur-
pose. Along the dugways of the roads,
where there have been goodly cuts for
the purpose of making more easy the
grade; in brick yards, where banks
have been left-anyWhere, in fact,
where a tunnel can be driven into the
earth to a sufficient depth.
These swallows do not nest IN pairs,
but in colonies of from a dozen cou-
plies to hundreds of them: and when
the busy time arrives: when the par
ent birds have to work early and late
to supply the tenants of the farther
end of the burroW in the bank with
food, then a very busy scene is pre-
sented. Out and in they flash, and the
doors TO the nest being always open,
the birds do not have to stop for pre-
liminaTieS, but flash in, with never a
pause, and out again, after leaving
their contribution within.
In July these and their young, i'm
common with certain other species of
the swallow family, gather on tele-
graph and telephone wires by the
thousands. and they continue to do