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

each other, while they build their
nests or feed their young.
In Utah such openings are less often
provided for this swallow, and there
are fewer of the birds Where build
ings are not available they go to the
mountains, where i'm creYices and
seams they may find fiat surface
upon which to place their nests.
Where conditions are wanting this
swallow viii build on bridge timbers,
if they are to be found. / found barn
swallows nesting on the timbers of
the bridge that spans Lake Fork. near
it's junction with the Duchesne river.
The Wood Swallow.
Another interesting member of this
family is the wood swallow, more
often mentioned by the name white
bellied swallow. These birds keep 10
the higher levels-they rarely nest be-
low 5000 feet-for in this state they
seem very much to prefer aspen
groves for nesting sites. and this tree
does not grow. ordinarily. much below
the height named. No doubt they
usually nest wherever aspens grow.
over at Brighton, between the post
office and Scott mountain, these birds
were numerous in the aspens. And in
the summer of 1897 they were present
by thousands a. Fish lake. in Sewer
county. That lake is nearly 5000 feet
above sea level, and its shores are
lined with aspens Of various sizes. and
i'm varying condition, with many stubs
and partially deeayed trees. In the
early days of August young swallows
fairly lined those trees-tney were
there by thousands and thousands.
The old birds SKINNED about over the
lake and the rolling sage-coyered hills
for food with which 10 satisfy their
eYeT-hungTy offspring.
Other swallows that are TO be found
in Utah-for an account of which
have not time-are the purple martin,
the northern violet-green swallow and
the rough-winged swallow.
The Western Nighthawk.
One other fnsect-eating bird, that
takes its food in the air. must be
named here, at least. That is the west
ern nighthawk.
These birds. while not numerous in
any locality-saVe as they gather in
focks preparatory TO migratiOn-are TO
be found during the summer in practi-
cally every part of the state. The two
forms of this bird-the Texas night
hawk and the one named abOYe-cOYer
the eGllfe state, so LildL Wherever one
of these birds is found, il Will be one
or the other of the species named, the
Texas nighthawk prevailing in the
southern part of the state.
These are exceedingly interesting
'skimmers of the air." They feed, or
dinarily late in the afternoon, and in
the early morning, though / have found
them ZigZagging about and uttering
their harsh cries after 10 o'clock on a
bright June day. They usually feed
till evenings shadows fall. During the
part of the day when they are not busy
collecting toll from the air they sleep
in the sun-sometimes fiattened out on
a rock or on the ground, at others lying
lengthwise of a limb, presenting the
appearance of a knot or long swollen
part.
When they are feeding, they usually
call to one another in sharp high
pitched note something like "peent;"
and at other times they ''bOOm"-a
sound which is said to be confined TO
the breeding season, but my observa-
tions have convinced me that this is
not so, as l have heard the sound at
other times. The birds of Utah seem
not to boom" as much as the eastern
nighthawks do. Not till June, 1907, did
l hear this sound so familiar TO my