8 JOIKXAL OF MAIXK ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



A Visit to a Colony of Bank Swallows. 



By Howard H. Cleaves, .Statcii Island, X. Y. 



I)irds that live in colonies are generally very interesting, and, in 

 niv opinion, the Bank .Swallows are especially so. 



The\- will not build unless a certain kind of bank is available. 

 \'er\- near where I live there are banks which, from a distance, bear 

 the same appearance as the ones which these Swallows have chcseii. 

 On close examination of the former, however, I found that the earth 

 was very hard, too hard for even the Kingfi.sher, while the bank 

 where the .Swallows were (four miles distant) was of a sand\- charac- 

 ter, and easil\- j^enetrated. The bank faced to the north and over- 

 looked a large expanse of salt water. ]\stimating roughly, the 

 colony ()ccu]Med at least three hundred yards of the rather pre- 

 cijjilous bank, tlie lop of which was about thirty feet above sea 

 level. 



The holes which led to the nests were made, almost invariably, 

 about tweUe to sixteen inches from the top of the bank, where the 

 fibrous roots of the grasses from above helped to strengthen them. 

 Not all, however, had made their nests so near the to]!. In one 

 place, wliere the bank was perpendicular, fifteen or twenty holes had 

 l)een made some ten feet from the to]i. 



I undertook to count the holes of the entire colony. There 

 weie three hundred and eight in all. including many, probably, 

 which were not in use : also some wliich might have been only five 

 or six inches deep, llie mere deserted beginnings of nests. The 

 tunnels went straight back from the openings for a distance of 

 about two feet, and terminated in slight enlargements, at the bottom 

 of which were rather frail nests. 



.\t the time of my visit (July 4lh. ii)()6) many of the young had 

 left the nests and were flx'ing about with tlie twittering swarm of 

 adults, while others were .still too young to take to their wings. 

 The old liirds would skim over the surrounding fields and water 

 until sulTicieut insect food had been accumulated in their mouths, 



