BANK SWALLOW 417 



droscogin River near Brunswick, Maine, was destroyed by a slide 

 following a flooded condition of the river. Similar instances have 

 been cited by others. 



Bank-swallow burrows are sometimes appropriated by other birds 

 as nesting sites. Forbush (1929) states that the house sparrow and 

 the starling sometimes drive out the bank swallows and utilize the 

 burrows for their own nests. Stoner (1925) found a burrow that 

 had been excavated by a bank swallow in a colony on the Little 

 Sioux River containing four fledging house sparrows in good condi- 

 tion and nearly ready to leave the nest. A. Dawes DuBois (MS.) 

 writing concerning a colony of bank swallows located at French 

 Village, St. Clair County, 111., states: "We estimated the number of 

 holes in the bank to be about 400, in two groups or tiers; but only 

 the holes of the upper group were being used by the swallows. The 

 lower holes, now enlarged, were being used by a great many English 

 sparrows." One of the bank swallow tunnels examined by DuBois 

 on May 22 contained a large blacksnake. 



During prolonged cold rainy spells of weather numbers of bank 

 swallows may perish from exposure and lack of food. Macoun 

 (1909) cites a case of this nature: 



On June 5th, 1902, there was a severe and very cold storm, and at one colony 

 the birds evidently crowded into the partially completed burrows for shelter, 

 to such an extent that those at the end were crushed or smothered to death ; 

 almost every burrow had three or four dead birds, rammed hard against the 

 end ; one hole had six, jammed into a mass which held together, so strongly I 

 was able to drag it out by pulling on one wing ; some holes contained but one 

 bird, and in these cases the little bodies were not so badly jammed ; one of 

 these solitary corpses proved to be that of a barn swallow ; I presume these 

 single birds died from the cold as doubtless had the several found on the 

 ground at the foot of the bank ; altogether some 30 or 40 swallows perished in 

 this colony. 



It is not unusual to find bank swallows infested with mites and 

 lice. Harold Peters (1936) has found the mites Liponyssus syl- 

 viarum and Atricholaelaps glasgowi on bank swallows taken in 

 Pennsylvania and the louse Myrsidea dissimilis on a South Carolina 

 bank swallow. Stoner (1936b) reports mites {Atricholaelaps) as not 

 uncommon on bank swallows examined by him in the Oneida Lake 

 region, New York. Many of the young swallows in the nest late in 

 June and July harbored these mites, the numbers seemed to increase 

 somewhat as the season advanced. Lice {Myrsidea dissimilis) were 

 according to Stoner (1936b) on most of the swallows examined by 

 him. These parasites attained their maximum abundance on nest- 

 lings after mid-July. 



The above-mentioned species of lice and mites have been present 

 on many of the birds examined in the vicinity of Brunswick, Maine. 



