HIRUNDINID.E — THE SWxVLLOWS. 



353 



Tiie eggs, six in number, in every instance tliat we noticed, were pure white, 

 about the size of those of the ripuriu, but a little more uniformly oblong in 

 shape and pointed at one end. Their length varies from .78 to .69 of an inch, 

 the average being .75. Their average breadth is .58 of an inch. 



Gexus COTYLE, Boie. 



Cii/i/k, Boie, Isis, 1822, 550. (Type, Ifiruiuln riparm, L.) 



(tKn. Char. Bill small ; noi^trils lateral, ovfrhung by a .straight-edgerl membrane. Tar- 

 sii.'< about ecpial to middle toe witliout claw ; feathered at upper end, e.'ipeeially on inner 

 face, and having also a small tuft of feathers attached to posterior edge near the hind toe. 

 Middle toe with basal joint adherent externally to near the end, half-way internally, the 

 claws comparatively little curved, the lateral reaching beyond the base of the middle. Tail 

 slightly forked. Color dull lustreless brown above, in riparia white beneath with gray 

 pector.al band. 



Nests in holes in banks ; eggs white. 



Many American liirds have been referred to Cotyle, but the only one 

 belonging to the genus is the cosmo- 

 politan C. riparia. The peculiarity of 

 the genus consists essentially in tlie 

 tuft of tarsal feathers at the base of 

 the hind toe, and the unusual length 

 of the lateral claws, combined with 

 the lateral nostrils overhung by mem- 

 brane. By these characters the genus is very easily distinguished 

 Stelgidoptcryx. 



really 



20G41 



Cotyle riparia. 



trom 



Cotyle riparia, Boie. 



BANK SWALLOW ; SAND MAKTIN. 



Hirmidn riparia, Lixx. S. N. I, 1766, 34i. — WiLS. ; AuD. — Lembeye, Aves de Cuba, 

 1850, 47, lam. vii, fig. 3. — Jones, Nat. Hist. Bermuda, 34 (occasional, Aug. and 

 Sept.). Colijle riparia, Boie, Isi.s, 1822, 550. — C.\ssin. — Bkewer, N. A. Obi. I, 



1857, 105, pi. iv, tig. 49 (eggs). — C.iii. Jour. 1856, 4 (Cuba). — Baird, Birds N. Am. 



1858, 313 ; Kev. 1864, 319. — Ib. 1861, 93 (Costa Rica [?]). — Gundlach, Cab. Jour. 

 1861, 330 (very rare in Cuba). — Maucii, Pr. A. N. Sc. 1863, 297 (Jamaica ; very rare). 

 Heekmann, p. R. R. X, 36 (California ; abundant ?). — Dall & Bannister, 280 

 (Ala.'ika). — Cooper, Orn. C'al. 1, 1870, 110. — Samuels, 258. Hirundo ciiierm, 

 ViElLL. Hirundo rijiaria americana, 11a.\. 



Sp. CnAR. Adult. Above grayi.sh-brown, .somewhat fuliginous, with a tendency to paler 

 margins of the feathers. Beneath pure white, with a band acro.ss the breast and the sides 

 of the body like the back. Length, 4.75; wing, 4.00; tail, 2.00. 



Young birds have less emarginate tails, and the feathers of back, rump, and wings edged 

 with whitish. 



Hab. The whole of North America ; Bermudas ; Greater Antilles ; Costa Rica : West- 

 ern Brazil (Pei.z.). Also found in the northern parts of the Old World, 

 45 



