In the same year that Long discovered this species among the Rocky Mountains (1820), Sir John Franklin’s party also met with it between the Cumberland House and Fort Enterprise, and on the banks of Point Lake, in latitude 65°. In June, 1825, a number of these birds made their first appearance at Fort Chippewyan, and built their nests under the eaves of the house. This fort had then existed many years, and trading-posts had been in existence a century and a half, and yet this was the first instance of its
placing itself under the protection of man throughout that wide extent of territory. Mr. Audubon met with this species at Henderson, on the Ohio, in 1815. Two years later he found a colony breeding in Newport, Ky., which dated back to the same year. Several other colonies in that neighborhood also first appeared in the same year. In 1837 I received their eggs from Coventry, Vt., at which time they were a new species to me. They were there known as the “Eave Swallow,” and the time of their first appearance could not be determined. I first met with them in 1839, at Jaffrey, N. H., where they had made their first appearance the year before, and were not then known to be anywhere else in that vicinity. The same year I afterwards found them in Burlington, Vt., where they had been known only for three years. When or where they first appeared in Massachusetts is not known. I first observed a large colony of them in Attleborough in 1842. Its size indicated the existence of these birds in that place for several years. The same year they also appeared, apparently for the first time, in Boston, Hingham, and in other places in the neighborhood.
In 1824, De Witt Clinton read a paper to the New York Lyceum, stating that he had met with these birds at Whitehall, N. Y., at the southern end of Lake Champlain, in 1817, about the time of their first appearance on the Ohio; and Rev. Zadock Thompson met with them in Randolph, Vt., at about the same period. General Dearborn noticed them for the first time in Winthrop, Me., in 1830. They first appeared at Carlisle, Penn., in 1841.
Professor Verrill discovered, in 1861, a large colony of these birds breeding on the high limestone cliffs of Anticosti, apparently in their original condition, and entirely removed from the influences of man. This suggested an inquiry as to their early presence in Northeastern America. From the information he received, he was led to conclude that this Swallow was known to certain parts of Maine earlier than its first discovery anywhere in the West. Whether these birds were indigenous to the West or not cannot now be determined. That they were discovered there only so recently as 1820 proves nothing. We only know that in certain localities—such as Rock River on the Mississippi, and at Anticosti on the St. Lawrence—their occurrence in large numbers in their former normal condition of independence suggests in either locality an equally remote beginning. It is possible, and even probable, that in favorable localities in various parts of the country they existed in isolated colonies. The settlement of the country, and the multiplication of convenient, sheltered, and safe places for their nests, gradually wrought a change in their habits, and greatly multiplied their numbers. At St. Stephen, N. B., and in that neighborhood, Mr. Boardman found this species as abundant in 1828 as they have been at any time since. They were then very plentiful under the eaves of several old barns in that part of the country. Yet twelve years afterward they were entirely unknown on the lower Kennebeck.
Dr. Cooper found this to be an abundant species in California, on the
coast, where they breed on the cliffs, and have all the appearance of being indigenous. They appear at San Diego as early as March 15, a week before the Barn Swallow, and do not leave until October. They build even in the noisy streets of San Francisco. Dr. Cooper observed them catching young grasshoppers, which is certainly unusual food for Swallows, and one that has proved fatal to young Barn Swallows when fed to the latter in confinement. At Santa Cruz they bred as early as April 12, and had second broods July 5.
The nests of this Swallow, when built on the side of a cliff or in any exposed position, are constructed in the shape of a retort, the larger portion adhering to the wall, arched over at the top and projecting in front, with a covered passage-way opening at the bottom. The normal original nest, in a state of nature, is an elaborate and remarkably ingenious structure, sheltering its inmates from the weather and from their many enemies. Since they have sought the shelter of man and built under the eaves of barns and houses, the old style of their nests has been greatly changed, and the retort-like shape has nearly disappeared.
In building and in repairing their nests they work with great industry, and often complete their task with wonderful celerity. Where they exist in a large colony, it is not an uncommon thing to see several birds at work upon the same nest,—one bird, apparently the female owner, always assisting and directing the whole. After the work of construction has gone so far as to permit the occupation of the nest, it is often to be observed that the task of completing and improving the structure is kept up by the male. In a large colony of these Swallows, whose nests were built under the projecting roof of a barn in a small island in the Bay of Fundy, every nest was as open as are those of the Barn Swallow. These birds had been encouraged to build by the owner, and boards had been placed above and below their nests, of which they at once took advantage to build an unusual nest. These nests are made of various kinds of adhesive earth and mud. They are neatly and warmly lined with fine dry grasses and leaves, intermingled with feathers, wool, and other soft, warm substances. It has been thought that the mud of which these nests are composed is agglutinated by the saliva of the birds; but of this I have never been able to detect any evidence in the nests themselves, the crumbling nature of which when dry is against this supposition; and the birds themselves are often to be seen about puddles of water, apparently gathering materials.
When the nests of a large colony are invaded, the birds manifest great uneasiness, collecting in a swarm over the head of the intruder, wheeling around in circles, uttering loud outcries, and even flying close to his head, as if to attack him, with loud snapping of the bills.
The song of this Swallow is an unmusical creak, rather than a twitter, frequent rather than loud, and occasionally harsh, yet so earnest and genial in its expression that its effect is far from being unpleasant.