338 THE BANK SWALLOW. | 
changeable type, a visible link between Stumptown-on-Swinomish and Flor- 
ence on the Arno. Birds of precisely this feather are summering on the Lena, 
or else hawking at flies on the sunny Gaudalquivir, or tunneling the sacred 
banks of the Jordan; and the flattery is not lost upon us of such as still prefer 
the Nespilem and the Pilchuck. 
The life of a Swallow is so largely spent a-wing, that our interest in it 
centers even more than 
in the case of other 
birds upon the time 
when it is bound to 
Taken near Chelan. Photo by the Author. 
NESTING SITE OF THE BANK SWALLOW. 
earth by family ties. We are scarcely conscious of the presence of the Bank 
Swallow until one day we see a great company of them fluttering about a sand- 
bank which overlooks the river, all busily engaged in digging the tunnels which 
are to shelter their young for that season. These birds are regularly gre- 
garious, and a nesting colony frequently numbers hundreds. 
The birds usually select a spot well up within a foot or two of the top of 
a nearly perpendicular bank of soil or sand, and dig a straight, round tunnel 
three or four feet long. If, however, the soil contains stones, a greater length 
and many turns may be required to reach a safe spot for the slight enlargement 
where the nest proper is placed. The bird appears to loosen the earth with 
