BANK SWALLOW, OR SAND MARTIN. 607 



often killed by canoe-men with the mere aid of their 

 paddles.* 



The length of this species is about 5| inches, alar extent 12. Above 

 light glossy greenish-blue. Wings and tail brownish-black. The 

 closed wings extend about a quarter of an inch beyond^the tail. — The 

 female is less glossy green. 



BANK SWALLOW, or SAND MARTIN. 



(Hirundo riparia, L. Wilson, v. p. 46. pi. 38. fig. 4. Phil. Museum, 



No. 7637.) 



Sp. Charact. — Above, and band on the breast cinereous brown ; 

 beneath white; tail forked; the tarsi naked, with a few tufls 

 of downy feathers behind. — The young, at first, have the 

 feathers slightly bordered with rufous, this edging more con- 

 spicuous on the wing-coverts and tertials. 



This plain looking and smaller species, though equally 

 gregarious with other kinds, does not court the protec- 

 tion or society of man ; at least their habitations are re- 

 mote from his. They commonly take possession for this 

 purpose of the sandy bank or bluff of a river, quarry, or 

 gravel pit, 2 or 3 feet below the upper surface of the 

 bank. In such places, in the month of April, they may 

 be observed burrowing horizontally with their awl-like 

 bills, when, at length, having obtained a foot-hold in the 

 cliff, they also use their feet, and continue this labor 

 to the depth of 2 or 3 feet. Several of these holes may 

 be often seen within a few inches of each other. The 

 nest itself, at the extremity of this cavern, is loosely made 

 of a little dry grass, and a few downy feathers. The 

 eggs are about 5, and pure white. They have generally 

 two broods in the season ; and on the egress of the 

 young, in the latter end of May, the piratical Crows often 

 await their opportunity to destroy them as they issue from 



* AoDUBow. Orn. Biog. i. p. 356. 



