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Show 278 PROF. W. NATION ON PERUVIAN BIRDS. [Mar. 17, little Gothic building used for a telegraph and railway station,so near the line that I observed that the nests were surrounded by the smoke of the engine. The man in charge of the station informed me that the building had been scarcely finished before it was taken possession of by the colony. In the neighbourhood there was a large sugar plantation with many buildings, of which the roofs and walls had been taken possession of by Attkora cyanoleuca, but not a nest of the Cliff-Swallow could be seen on them. On examining the nests, I found them in every stage of construction, from the first circular row of wet pellets to the perfect nest inhabited by a family of young birds nearly fledged. O n the outside (for the roofs inside had been taken possession of also) I counted 123 nests. The rafters under the eaves were covered by the nests in many places. The nests were placed one upon another. The sill of one window had a row of nests upon it; and I observed one or two nests affixed to the sides of the walls of the house. The nest is very large for so small a bird. The one I removed weighs two pounds; it stands 7 inches high, and is 6\ inches wide at the base. The neck is about 2\ inches long and 2 wide. The lining is very scanty, scarcely sufficient to cover the bottom of the nest, and is composed of a few bits of fine grasses with one or two feathers. The eggs which I found in this nest, in which incubation had many days commenced, were three in number, white, thickly speckled with reddish-brown ; they are ten twelfths of an inch long by seven broad. I never saw anything more beautiful than the appearance of a colony of these birds in their curious-shaped nests, out of which project the heads of the owners at the slightest alarm. It is by no means a shy bird ; while I was examining the nests they flew around me like bees, almost touching my face, uttering piteous cries. I felt sorry to see the distress of the parent birds whose nest I removed. Of the nest I brought away I made a drawing, and seut copies of it to almost every part of Peru, and in a short time I was in possession of many important facts respecting its range in Peru. Unfortunately about this time difficulties between Chili and Peru commenced, and soon after broke out the terrible war of the Pacific. Personal observations and postal inquiries became impossible. Since the departure of the Chilian army and the return of the Peruvian authorities, I have done all I could to add to m y knowledge of its range and habits ; but I regret to say with little success. The colony I first discovered was swept away ; the bones of many of my friends are laid under the battle-field ; and the state of the country renders it unsafe to stray far from the city gates. According to my present knowledge of this species it seems to be confined to the cultivated lands in the river districts of the narrow strips of arid country situated between the Pacific and the mouths of the Andean valleys, from the southern border of the great desert of Sechura to the desert of lea, from about 7° to 13° S. latitude. It is remarkable that I have never been able to obtain any evidence that it builds its nest on a rock or cliff, or that it is seen inside the |
