460 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



in hatching, and often the same nest is reoccupied not only 

 for a fresh laying but season after season as well. Four to 

 ten but more usually five or six pure white eggs are laid. 

 Six taken at Orono, June 11, 1894, from a hole in a stub six 

 feet from the ground measure 0.78 x 0.57, 0.76 x 0.56, 0.78 x 

 0.56, 0.71 X 0.55, 0.75 x 0.56, 0.75 x 0.56. 



The food consists of the same general run of insects eaten by 

 other related species and are skimmed up as they sail along 

 through the air and over the water. I have sometimes seen 

 them pick up insects from the surface of the water as they 

 lightly skimmed by. In the south they have been reported 

 as eating bay berries. Though more silent as a rule than the 

 other Swallows, they utter characteristic twitters of alarm and 

 anger and also there is a low call with which a bird greets its 

 mate, I think it is the call uttered by the male to the female. 

 In fall they may be seen perched in a loose gathering on the 

 stubs about the water and more rarely along the roadsides 

 with the other species. In the nesting season one or both birds 

 may often be seen perched on the stub which is their home, 

 taking short flights and returning, and even while incubation 

 is proceeding the eggs are left unguarded frequently for short 

 intervals. 



Genus RIPARIA Forster. 



616. Riparia riparia (Linn.). Bank Swallow; Sand Swal- 

 low; Sand Martin. 



Plumage of adults : a brownish gray band across breast and along sides ; 

 upper parts same general color but darker on head and wings and lighter on 

 rump ; tail appearing above indistinctly barred. Immature plumage : above 

 mouse gray, the feathers edged with pale drab ; wing coverts and tertiaries 

 edged with pale cinnamon ; tail without the faint barred appearance ; other- 

 wise very similar to adults. Wing 4.00 ; tail 2.00 ; tail rounded, only slightly 

 forked. 



Geog. Dist. — Northern Hemisphere ; in America breeding from the mid- 

 dle districts of the United States northward to Labrador and Alaska ; winter- 

 ing in Central and South America to Brazil. 



