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Birds of the air, that take their insect food on the wing. Migratory. Flight strong, skimming, darting; exceedingly graceful. When not flying they choose slender, conspicuous perches like telegraph wires, gutters, and eaves of barns.
Plumage of some species dull, of others iridescent blues and Greens above, whitish or ruddy below. Sexes similar. Bills small; mouths large. Long and pointed wings, generally reaching the tip of the tail or beyond. Tail more or less forked. Feet small and weak from disuse. Song a twittering warble without power. Gregarious birds.
▪ Barn Swallow bird information
▪ Bank Swallow
▪ Cliff (or Eaves) Swallow
▪ Tree Swallow
▪ Rough-winged Swallow
▪ Purple Martin bird information
Swallow, Barn bird pictures
BARN SWALLOW
613. Hirundo erythrogastra. 7 1/2 inches
Female duller plumaged and with a less deeply forked tail than the male. Forehead and throat chestnut and entire under parts buffy; tail deeply forked and with a white spot on the inner web of each feather except the central pair.
This is the most graceful and beautiful of all our Swallows, and is the most common about farmhouses, the inside beams and rafters of which they appropriate for their own use.
They delight in skimming over the rolling meadows or the surface of ponds, now rising with the wind, now swooning downward with the speed of an arrow.
Song. – A continuous, rapid twitter.
Nest. – A bowl-shaped structure made up of pellets of mud cemented together with the birds’ saliva, and lined with feathers; attached to rafters in barns, the opening being at the top and not at the side as in the last; eggs exactly like those of the last.
Range. – N.A., breeding north to the limit of trees; winters in northern South America.
Martin, Purple bird pictures
Male, blue black; female, dull black and grayish.
These large, jolly Swallows are commonly seen about cities and towns within their range. Originally they dwelt in hollow trees, and some do yet, but the majority have recognized the superiority of man’s dwelling and now live in houses built especially for them or in cornices of houses or barns.
It is no uncommon sight to see a handsome gabled structure of many rooms, perched upon a twelve-foot pole, on the lawns of many wealthy residents; others less bountifully supplied with this world’s goods use plain soap boxes for the same purpose, and the Martins seem to like the one as well as the other.
Song. – A strong, varied grating warble or twitter, more forcible than melodious.
Nest. – Of straw, paper, rags, etc., in bird houses, gables or hollow trees; eggs dull white (.98 x .72).
Range. – N.A., breeding from the Gulf to New Brunswick and Saskatchewan; winters in northern South America.
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