The Bank Swallow. — As a bird of Lorain Co., Ohio, the Bank Swal- 

 low has been considered common in summer, breeding in small numbers 

 in suitable places. The larger number have been found nesting in the 

 clay banks fronting on Lake Erie, but even here occuring in colonies of 

 scarcely a dozen pairs. But this season there is a colony of about five 

 hundred pairs nesting in a clay bank, the top of which is scarcely 

 above the storm-wave mark. This colony is but a short distance from 

 the banks where a few pairs of Swallows have nested every year. The 

 nest cavities lie along the face of the bank from one to ten feet below the 

 top of the bank, and are so numerous in places that the partitions of 

 earth between them have fallen out, leaving one large cavity. The per- 

 pendicular face of the bank is worn smooth by the feet and wings of the 

 birds as they alight. — Lynds Jones, Oberlin, Ohio. 



Notes from Pennsylvania. — This winter a flock of Pine Grosbeaks 

 have been in our woods. I saw them first December 7, but think they 

 had been here a month before that, as I recognized their note as one 

 heard before but not identified. They are still here (April 8), as yesterday 

 two females were near my door on the ground eating dry dead leaves. I 

 find they are walkers, though they hop sometimes as well. When first seen 

 I could find none among them in full male plumage, but many with 

 patches of pinkish-red in all sorts of variations ; but about March ist 

 I saw three males in full dress. Several times I have heard their song, 

 delivered from the top of a tall tree, where the singer remained a long 

 time repeating his delightful notes, but always as if ZL'hisf<ered, low, 

 under the breath, we should say, if it were a person singing. The song 

 has much in common with that of the Purple Finch. I have heard other 

 birds whisper their songs (if that is the proper way to express my mean- 

 ing) — the Robin and Wood Thrush. Once a Wood Thrush sang three 

 days near our house, and his voice sounded hoarse, as if he had such a 

 cold he could not bring out the notes as he wished to, and it seemed to 

 trouble him very much. There had been severe, long continued storms, 

 and I dare say he had a cold. Another time, early in the Spring, a Robin 

 always missed one note in his song, and that appeared to come from a 

 huskiness in his throat. It was always the same note that failed to 

 materialize. In the same way a White-crowned Sparrow, one spring 

 during his call upon us, always skipped one note in his song. The same 

 note each time and an interval left for that note. I heard this three days 

 m succesion. Once I saw two White-crowned Sparrows sing a duet. 

 They were taking their breakfast from the lawn and not more than a yard 



