426 BULLETIN 17 9, imiTED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



wise brownish tail. The effect produced was of white outer tail 

 feathers, such as those of the junco or pipit. Males can by means 

 of this trick be distinguished from the females at a distance of fully 

 50 yards. An examination of specimens in hand reveals the fact 

 that the under tail coverts of the males are broader and longer than 

 those of the females." 



Nesting. — Burrows, excavated in precipitous banks of clay, sand, 

 or gravel by the birds themselves, are the usual nesting sites of the 

 roughwing. The length of the burrow depends, as H. H. Bailey 

 (1913) says, "much on the character of the soil in which it is started. 

 Weather conditions also make a moist or hard soil for them to work 

 in." Minimum depth of burrow is about 9 inches; and, in these 

 shallow excavations, the nest can be sometimes seen from the outside. 

 The greater number of tunnels, however, are long enough to keep 

 the nest from view and protect it from driving rains. Under ideal 

 working conditions, tunnels 4 and 5 feet long are often excavated, 

 sometimes reaching even a distance of 6 feet. 



Bailey further says : "The height of the nesting cavity in the bank 

 also varies greatly, the nature of the soil strata affecting the drilling 

 of the hole, which is made by the birds using their feet to scratch 

 with, and push the dirt backward out of the tunnel. Unlike the 

 kingfisher, their beaks play a secondary part in the drilling of their 

 home, so they usually select a place in the soft strata where the roof 

 wdll be the under side of a hard strata of soil, and so eliminate the 

 chances of a cave-in." 



Dawson (1923) writes that "in open country, where the cover is 

 scarce but the food supply attractive" he found them nesting "along 

 irrigating ditches with banks not over two feet high." Weydemeyer 

 (1933) found nests in Montana in banks 1 to 50 feet up. 



This swallow is an excellent example of a species that can readily 

 adapt itself to conditions and utilize any kind of cavity for the 

 reception of its nest. It builds in holes in masonry, sides of wooden 

 buildings, adobe walls, quarries and caves ; crannies and ledges under 

 bridges, culverts, and wharfs; and gutters, drainpipes, and sewer- 

 pipes. Deserted burrows of the kingfisher {Megaceryle alcyon) also 

 are frequently used, and in the West holes of ground squirrels and 

 other small mammals. According to Tyler (1913), these holes are 

 thoroughly renovated before occupancy "as is evidenced by the small 

 mounds of dust, leaves and trash that are to be seen below the 

 entrances to occupied cavities." 



A nesting site near the village of Mount Pleasant, S. C, used 

 occasionally by rough-winged swallows was in the end of a hole in 

 a bank of burnt oystershell — location of an antebellum lime kiln 

 facing Copahee Sound. A round piece of wood had been buried 



