THE OOLOGIST 



159 



than ninety feet in height. One nest- 

 ing site was chosen in a crack only 

 10 feet below the nest of a Prairie 

 Falcon. 



The birds seem to arrive in this 

 district about the end of April or 

 early May and leave for the South in 

 late August or early September as 

 nearly as I can find out from resident ■! 

 in the localities where the birds are 

 but I have not been in the districts 

 to authenticale these dates. May 

 6th, the birds were in vast numbers 

 about the cliffs as 1 found when 

 searching for Frairie Falcon nests. 

 August 24th the birds were still pres- 

 ent on the sandstone cliffs of the 

 Ncrih Laramie river, elevation 8,000 

 feet which would lead me to believe 

 they would still be present oa the 

 cliffs of the rim of the Goshen Hole, 

 elevation 5,500 feet- 



No bird I know so delights the eye 

 with its wonderail grace and speed 

 of flight as this black and white 

 aeronaut. If one has had a l)ullet 

 pass close to one's head, one gets 

 exactly the same impression when 

 one of these birds come from behind 

 you at close range. Their harsh 

 twittering seems to be out of place 

 in a bird so gifted in grace of flight. 

 Few birds seem to embody the very 

 spirit of restlessness as does the 

 White-throated Swift as he skims and 

 darts about the cliffs. 



James A. Neilson, 

 Wheatland. Wyo. 



BANK SWALLOWS 



By chance, while hunting herbs, 1 

 found a small colony of Bank Swal- 

 low in a small gravel pit. There 

 were perhaps a dozen pairs all told. 

 I examined the nests, or rather bur- 

 rows, and was greatly surprised to 

 find they run way in, so I procured a 

 long root and thrust it in each bur- 

 row and found them, yet unfinished, 

 to vary from three feet to over six 

 feet, and average three or four inches 

 across; they varied in the direction 

 back in the bank, which was a loose 

 sandy and gravelly soil. They started 

 usually straight back, maybe come to 

 a Etone or very hard place and then 

 swerve to right or left, down or up, 

 and then turn again a little further 

 In as far as I could reach, so the back 

 end must have been three feet be- 

 low the entrance. Another almost 

 from the start turned to the right 

 raid raised about two inches to the 

 foot, run about a yard, only about six 

 inches back from the face of the bank, 

 then turned in and up a little steeper, 

 yet not straight back, for a consider- 

 able distance. Any little obstacle 

 seemed to change their course. 



In no case was the nest placed back 

 over twelve or fourteen inches from 

 the entrance, always higher than the 

 entrance, and placed in a hollow. 

 Nest built of dry grass and lined 

 with chicken feathers and Swallow 

 feathers; they had to go over a half 

 mile for the chicken feathers. I fail 

 to see why they do so much digging 

 as they only retreat a few inches back 

 of the nest if frightened, and do not 

 use the back tunnel for a store room. 

 George W. H. vos Burgh. 



Columbus, Wis- 



