1^4 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 



258 [614] Iridoprocne bicolor (Vieill.)- 

 Tree Swallow; White-bellied Swallow; "Martin." 



Abundant summer resident. March 15 to November 2; average date of 

 arrival for ten years, March 28. 



Eggs: May 14 to June 15. 



Although I had much to say of this interesting bird in the original Memoir 

 I have since made many notes about it, a few of which, only, can be given. 



In courtship, besides the song previously described, the birds sometimes fly 

 upward on vigorously decurved wings. The female at such times makes a grit- 

 ting sound very much like the gritting song of the Bank Swallow. 



On April 19, 1909, I discovered two male Tree Swallows fighting in the grass 

 at Ipswich, rolling over each other and pecking at each other's heads. At last 

 they broke apart and flew up into the air still fighting. Here others flew about 

 and between them as if trying to separate them. 



In 1914, 1 had fifteen bird-boxes on my farm at Ipswich occupied by this bird. 



259 [616] Riparia riparia (Linn.). 

 Bank Swallow. 



Common summer resident. May 2 to September 16 (November 2) ; average 

 date of arrival for five years, May 4. 



Eggs: June 4 to June 17. 



The following is from the notes of Mr. C. J. Maynard for June 11 to 18, 

 1868, at Ipswich, in referring to this bird : 



" There were ' thousands ' breeding in the sea walls^ that were composed of 

 sand. The burrows extended in from 18 to 36 inches. Nests composed of grass 

 lined with gulls' feathers. The eggs were from 4 to 6, generally 5 in a nest. The 

 greater part were fresh, although a few were somewhat advanced in incubation. 

 In some cases the nests were only just begun. Out of four or five birds captured 

 in the nests, two proved to be males on dissection." 



The Bank Swallow has decreased in numbers since this time and I have never 

 found more than a half-dozen holes in the wind cuttings in the Ipswich dunes. 



I have wondered whether the gritting note which has sometimes a gentle 



1 About IS feet high, about 500 yards southeast of Lighthouse. — C. J. M. 



