THe PERCHING Birps. 83 
almost over. My grandfather has often told me of 
the day being darkened by wild pigeons, and of 
ponds “black” with wild ducks, of the air “ filled” 
with geese, and such strange tales even as an orchard 
red with tanagers. The only approach to all this is 
an occasional flock of perhaps one thousand black- 
birds, and even a “cloud” of them of ten times that 
many birds. But man’s interference has not yet 
extended to the swallows, and they make when 
opportunity affords a fine showing. Indeed, were it 
not for this feature of close association they would 
make no showing at all, for a single swallow is a 
most insignificant affair. 
Great flights of swallows have been noticed in the 
valley of the Delaware even in November, after a 
long interval with no swallows in the air. At such 
a time they are all beating directly southward, and 
have a steady, direct flight unlike their summer-day 
progress when chasing insects as erratic in movement 
as they themselves are. Are such belated swallows 
likely to have been driven in-shore by contrary winds 
caught while wending their way over the ocean ? 
The Rough-winged Swallow is readily recog- 
nized by its dull-gray throat and the absence of the 
dark breast-band that characterizes the bank-swallow. 
The habits of the two are quite the same, except that 
the rough-wing is sometimes too lazy to build a nest 
wz a bank, but will put up with some nook in an 
old wall, or covered corner in a bridge, or natural 
crevice ina rock. Those that I have seen, however, 
were associated with the foregoing and had nests pre- 
cisely like them. The two were so intimately asso- 
