BARN SWALLOW. 141 



tree as to stand on one another for lack of room; 

 then they pair, and make their nests in sand- 

 banks, digging about fifteen or twenty inches in ; 

 line the hole with grass and the fronds of the 

 pine-tree. They leave again in September. 

 Lay four or five eggs. 



ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW (Cotyle serripennis, 

 Bonap.). This swallow arrives about the same 

 time as the sand-martin, and has much the 

 same habits and distribution, but differs in 

 its choice of nesting-place. Like the woodpecker, 

 this bird either makes a hole in a dead pine- 

 tree, or, taking possession of one already made 

 therein, builds a nest of feathers and deer-hairs, 

 lays four or five eggs, and fetches out its brood in 

 July. The eggs are most difficult to obtain, the 

 trees selected for nesting being usually too rotten 

 to climb. 



BAEN SWALLOWS (Hirundo horreorum, Bar- 

 ton) are common on Vancouver Island, and on 

 both sides of the Cascade Mountains. They 

 arrive at Colville in May and June, and build 

 either under a ledge of rock, or in an old out- 

 building, if such can be found. 



Whilst at our depot at Syniakwateen (vide 

 illustration in Volume I.) a solitary pair of 

 barn-swallows paid us a visit. A small shanty 



