Swallow WESTERN BIRDS 



bills, bringing out the surplus dirt with their mouths, a 

 performance which seems hardly credible. 



Having found a suitable sand-bank, they dig the holes 

 near the top of cliff and return year after year to the 

 same place, the young joining the old, thus making quite 

 a colony. 



These birds are rather more quiet and timid than most 

 of their tribe, but because of their habit of digging a 

 nest with their bills in a clay, or clay-and-sandy bank, 

 are extremely interesting and well worth watching, should 

 you be given the opportunity. 



GENUS BOMBYCILLA: EOUGH- 

 WINGED SWALLOW. 



Rough-Winged Swallow: Stelgidopteryx serripennis. 

 FAMILY— SWALLOWS. 



A BIRD somewhat resembling the Bank Swallow is 

 known as the Rough-winged because of the recurved 

 hooks on the edge of the outer primary — a saw-toothed 

 effect found in the male, only, although the wing of the 

 female is roughened. It is about five and one-half inches 

 long and of a dull brownish-gray plumage above and 

 below, save for the belly and under tail coverts, which 

 are white. 



The Rough-winged breeds from British Columbia, 

 Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, southern Wisconsin, 

 Ontario, southern New York, central western Massachu- 

 setts, and Connecticut south to southern United States 

 from southern California to northern Florida; wintering 

 from central Mexico, south. 



These birds seem to be somewhat erratic in their nest- 

 ing habits, sometimes making tunnels in banks, but as 

 frequently selecting crevices in cliffs, crannies in bridges, 



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