354 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Cotyle riparia. 



A critical examination has tailed to reveal any difference between Euro- 

 pean and American specimens of this bird. 



Habits. The cunnnoii Bank Swallow as we know it, or Sand Martin as 



it is called in England, is nearly or 

 quite cosmopolitan in its distribution. 

 Found throughout Europe in the sea- 

 son of reproduction, and in portions 

 of Africa in the winter months, it is 

 equally common throughout North 

 America in the summer, and prob- 

 ably winters in Mexico and in Cen- 

 tral and South America, though it is 

 not mentioned by Sumichrast as a 

 bird of Vera Cruz. It is said to oc- 

 cur in various parts of the continent 

 of Africa, and in Europe it extends 

 its migrations to the extreme north- 

 ern regions. It has also been met 

 with in India and in Siberia. Mr. 

 Salvin obtained several specimens at Duenas, Guatemala, in September, 

 1861, having previously observed it about the Lake of Yzabah. 



On both continents it is somewhat local in its distribution, in favorable 

 localities being quite abundant, and in others not known to exist. It is an 

 early spring visitant wherever found, appearing in England by the 24th of 

 March, and even in our high Arctic regions early in May, often in such in- 

 clement weather that it is obliged to take refuge in holes. Mr. Dall met 

 with this species in Alaska, in favorable situations, in immense numbers. 

 He counted on the face of one sand-bluff over seven hundred nest-holes 

 made by tliese birds, and all of them apparently occupied, so that the 

 bluff" presented the appearance of an immense honeycomb alive with bees. 

 He states that it takes the bird four days to excavate its nest. JXev. F. 0. 

 ]Morris, on the other hand, who has closely watched their operations in Eng- 

 land, says that it requires a fortnight, and that the weight of sand a pair 

 of these birds removes is twenty ounces in a day. Pebbles of more than two 

 ounces in w^eight have been known to be taken out by them. 



The flight of this species is rapid, but unsteady and flickering. In search- 

 ing for their food they skim low over the surface of both land and water, 

 dropping upon the latter, as they fly, to drink or to bathe. Their food 

 consists of the smaller kinds of winged insects, which they pursue and cap- 

 ture, dashing at them at times even on the water. They usually feed their 

 young with larger kinds than they eat themselves. 



It has not been observed in Greenland, but Eichardson found it in colonies 

 of thousands at the mouth of j\Iackeuzie's Eiver, in the 68th parallel. It is 

 a very social bird, usually breeding together in large communities, and is 



