Plan to Lure Back Swallows Is Delayed : Migration: Tourism group, which wants to replace the destroyed nests, has been unable to raise funds for replicas. Members have also been squabbling.

A clever scheme to lure the legendary swallows back to their historic home at Mission San Juan Capistrano is being scaled back because of a financial problem.

The private tourism group behind the effort to install 500 replica nests at the 219-year-old edifice, replacing the natural nests that were destroyed during work to make the mission earthquake-safe, has been torn by personality squabbles and has been unable to raise enough money.

“We don’t have the money right now for 500,” said Gerald Miller, the mission’s administrator. “It’s a disappointment. It’s put a hole in our plans.”

Instead, mission officials hope by mid-May to install 100 of the clay nests that are handcrafted by a Norco, Calif., artist who was enlisted for a program developed this year to entice back the world-famous swallows, which have been abandoning the mission in increasing numbers.

The program also involves releasing thousands of insects on the mission grounds each week to give the birds plentiful food and providing an ample source of fresh mud for any birds that want to build nests.

San Juan Capistrano’s image is tied closely to the folklore of the swallows--small darting birds whose nests are protected by a city ordinance.

According to legend, the birds have been coming back to the mission for more than 200 years. Father Junipero Serra, the 18th-Century missionary, is said to have welcomed the birds that were chased off by a nearby innkeeper who hated the mess they made.

Tourists pack the city every March 19 in anticipation of seeing the birds’ annual return, even though the number of birds has dwindled as their habitat has been ruined. This year, nearly 17,000 people visited the mission on Swallows Day. But fewer than a dozen birds came back.

And in the latest setback, disagreements among members of the San Juan Capistrano Hospitality Council, a group of local restaurant owners and business people formed in February to help raise money for the nesting program, caused some members to quit.

The group has been dormant in recent weeks because of what members describe as personality clashes.

Tim Bolen, publisher of the Swallows Tale and a founding member of the hospitality council, said the group intends to make a comeback with a revised membership.

However, Bolen said the group did not raise the estimated $8,100 needed for the nesting project.

“All we can do is put out an appeal to various agencies to help us,” Bolen said. “It’s not a problem we can solve overnight. It’s something that will take a couple of years.”

Sigismund Hau, the owner of Cafe Mozart and one of the hospitality council members who quit, said he and other restaurateurs have banded together to form their own group. “We need to unify business, the Chamber of Commerce and the mission,” Hau said.

The intense effort to lure the swallows drew national media attention before the March 19 celebration to welcome the migrating birds back from Argentina.

Only about a dozen natural nests remain at the swallows’ legendary seasonal home. The earthquake retrofitting begun six years ago at the mission caused the birds’ numbers to plummet.

So far, only nine of the replica clay nests have been installed, and wildlife experts say it will take some time before many birds start coming back to the mission.

Linda McLeod Evans, executive director of the Laguna Niguel-based Pacific Wildlife Project, said putting up the clay nests and releasing bugs will not automatically attract thousands of swallows.

She said it would be a success if even four new pairs of nesting swallows take up residence by the end of summer.

“This plan could work, but we really need (financial) help,” Evans said.