230 • BANK SWALLOW. 



with a few large downy feathers form the bed on which their eggs, gen- 

 erally five in number, and pure white, are deposited. The young are 

 hatched late in May ; and here I have taken notice of the common 

 Crow, in parties of four or five, watching at the entrance of these holes, 

 to seize the first straggling young that should make its appearance. 

 From the clouds of Swallows that usually play around these breeding 

 places, they remind one at a distance of a swarm of bees. 



The Bank Swallow arrives here earlier than either of the preceding ; 

 begins to build in April, and has commonly two broods in the season. 

 Their voice is a low mutter. They are particularly fond of the shores 

 of rivers, and, in several places along the Ohio, they congregate in im- 

 mense multitudes. We have sometimes several days of cold rain and 

 severe weather after their arrival in spring, from which they take refuge 

 in their holes, clustering together for warmth, and have been frequently 

 found at such times in almost a lifeless state with the cold ; which cir- 

 cumstance has contributed to the belief that they lie torpid all winter 

 in these recesses. I have searched hundreds of these holes in the 

 months of December and January, but never found a single Swallow, 

 dead, living, or torpid. I met with this bird in considerable numbers on 

 the shores of the Kentucky river, between Lexington and Danville. 

 The/ likewise visit the sea shore, in great numbers, previous to their 

 departure, which continues from the last of September to the middle of 

 October. 



The Bank Swallow is five inches long, and ten inches in extent ; 

 upper parts mouse colored, lower white, with a band of dusky bi'ownish 

 across the upper part of the breast ; tail forked, the exterior feather 

 filightly edged with whitish ; lores and bill black ; legs with a few tufts 

 of downy feathers behind ; claws fine pointed and very sharp ; over 

 the eye a streak of whitish ; lower side of the shafts white ; wings and 

 tail darker than the body. The female differs very little from the 

 male. 



This bird appears to be in nothing diflFerent from the European 

 species ; from which circumstance, and its early arrival here, I would 

 conjecture that it passes to a high northern latitude on both continents. 



