mud swallow n chiefly PA, NY, NJ, West See Map Cf mud dauber n 2, mud martin n
Usu the cliff swallow n, but also the barn swallow n 1.
1844 Farmer’s Mth. Visitor 6.158 ceMA, A gentleman there had so fitted up his barn on the exterior as to invite a species of swallow unlike those of the barn, the bank or the chimney, but which curiously construct their nests with mud under the sheltered eaves . . : at this place a single pair first appeared two or three years ago. . . Not only the growing vegetables, but the many apple and other fruit trees had been protected against the inroads of insects and worms by the little army of birds;—and the mud swallow among these most industrious. 1873 (1874) Leland Egyptian Sketch Book 43 [Writer from PA], It is wonderfully startling to see camels in long strings . . and those curious little mud-swallow nests of little villages. 1874 Great Bend Register (KS) 25 June [2]/2, The mud swallows are barricading the Ellsworth court house with mud. 1889 U.S. Dept. Ag. Div. Ornith. Bulletin 1.89 swPA, Most of the barns are what are known as “bank” barns, and underneath the extensions of these, Mud Swallows (Petrochelidon lunifrons) have been building and hatching by hundreds at each barn. Ibid 274 cwNY, It [=the English sparrow] has taken the nests of the mud swallow (Petrochelidon lunifrons), driving away the rightful owners. 1897 Plumas Natl.–Bull. (Quincy CA) 20 May [2]/4, Mud swallows are here in greater numbers than ever before, and property owners who object to this style of frescoing, may, almost daily, be seen with a long pole destroying the nests. 1898 Deland Old Chester 181 wPA, Mud-swallows had built their nests in the corners. 1912 Register & Leader (Des Moines IA) 15 Dec mag sec 1/2, The only signs of life I found around the place were a pair of doves and a half dozen mud swallows that darted swiftly in and out of the broken windows of the old mill. 1946 Goodrich Birds in KS 319, [Colloquial name:] swallow, mud—[common name:] swallow, northern cliff. 1950 WELS (Kinds of swallows around your locality) 1 Inf, WI, Mud swallow. 1953 Jewett Birds WA 449, Oregon Cliff Swallow. . . Other names . . Mud Swallow. . . The nest . . is a truly wonderful structure. Shaped like a bottle or purse, it is solidly constructed of mud and attached with wonderful efficiency to the perpendicular wall of cliff or cave, or the smooth side of a building. 1965–70 DARE (Qu. Q20, . . Kinds of swallows and birds like them) 25 Infs, chiefly West, PA, NY, NJ, Mud swallow. 1969 Fond du Lac Commonwealth Reporter (WI) 11 June 32/6, Mud swallows occupying the inside of the pit will be allowed to keep their homes. 1986 Del Rio News–Herald (TX) 12 May 1/5, [Photo caption:] This barn swallow, sometimes called the mud swallow, looks out from its nest of mud pellets, tucked into a corner of the roof of home here. 1992 AZ Republic (Phoenix) 23 Apr sec E 6/2, Wise old tamarack trees grow like gentle guardians from the banks, and mud swallows flicker in and out of their nests bulging from cliff walls. 2014 Albuquerque Jrl. (NM) 3 July sec C 1/5, For the past several years, hundreds of mud swallows have converged on the 13th Judicial District Courthouse in Los Lunas. Once there, they begin building their signature nests along every available overhang on the three-story building.
