BANK SWALLOW 411 



The food the first few days consists of small soft-bodied insects. In the 

 nest under observation it was mostly of small Diptera. Feeding occurs quite 

 often, averaging twice every five minutes in this nest of three young. Only 

 one young is fed at a visit— that is, all the food brought by the parent on one 

 trip is given to one young. When entering the burrow with food the parent 

 calls in a series of sweet high-pitched notes to the young. If the young arc 

 not hungry the parent calls more insistently, at the same time trampling 

 them gently to arouse them. 



As the young get older they are brooded less and less, by the sixth day 

 scarcely at all. When brooding is no longer necessary both birds seem to share 

 about equally in the feeding. Many times they both return at the same time 

 with food. 



In the nest under observation the food during the middle and latter part of 

 the time spent in the nest seemed to consist entirely of may-flies which were 

 abundant along the shore of the lake at this time. 



Young bank swallows that are fully fledged but not ready to fly 

 often rush to the mouth of the burrow, in full cry and with wide- 

 open mouths, as soon as they are aware of the approach of a parent. 

 A beam of light cast into a burrow sometimes brings a similar re- 

 action. Occasionally such eager young birds fall out of the burrow 

 and perish. 



Fear in young bank swallows seems to appear only after they are 

 well fledged. Young 8 to 15 days of age when removed from the 

 nest display a marked tendency to crawl under ledges of earth or 

 other objects. Wlien removed a little distance from the home burrow 

 they almost invariably shuffle toward it or in the direction of its 

 location, not away from it. Young birds at this stage of growth, 

 too, have a tendency to shuffle backward when placed on the ground 

 outside the burrow; but this manifests itself also before they have 

 been removed from the burrow. 



So far as could be determined, the average time spent by the young 

 in the nest varies from 18 to about 22 days. The young in a nest 

 studied by Beyer left in 18 days after hatching. 



After the young birds are fairly well grown and no longer require 

 brooding, the parents leave them for the night, joining other adult 

 birds from their own and other colonies in the vicinity to roost to- 

 gether in the marshes. Beyer did not see any of the adult birds 

 fly into the nest after 7:30 p. m., and by 8:00 p. m. on July 6, 

 the day he made continuous observations from a pit blind behind 

 the nest, all the adult swallows had gone to their roosting place. 



In regard to the number of broods reared during a single season 

 there seems to be a difference of opinion. Forbush (1929) states 

 that there is just one brood yearly. Beyer (1938) foimd no evidence 

 of second broods, though he looked persistently for them throughout 

 July and August in the Sodus Bay region. He concludes that though 

 it is possible two broods are reared it is of rare occurrence in the 



