280 THE BANK SWALLOW. 
General Range.—Northern Hemisphere; in America south to West Indies, 
Central America, and northern South America; breeding from the middle dis- 
tricts of the United States northward to about the limit of trees. 
Range in Ohio.—Abundant summer resident in localities providing suitable 
nesting sites. More common northerly. 
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 that time when it is 
bound to earth by family ties. We are scarcely conscious of the presence of 
the Bank Swallows until one day we see a great company of them fluttering 
about a sand bank, which overlooks the river, and busily engaged in digging 
the tunnels which are to shelter their young for that season. These birds 
are regularly gregarious, and their nesting colonies frequently number hun- 
dreds of pairs. 
The birds usually select a spot well up, within a foot or two of the top 
of a nearly perpendicular bank of clay or sand, and dig a straight, round tun- 
nel 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 
enlarge 
ment where 
Clie WES i 
Proper is 
placed. The 
bird appears 
to loosen the 
earth with its 
closed beak, 
swaying 
from side to 
SiGe wine 
while, and, of 
course, fallen 
dirt or sand 
is carried out 
in the mouth. 
S ometimes 
the little miner finds a lens-shaped tunnel more convenient, and I have seen 
them as much as seven inches in width by only two in height. While the 
colony, especially if small, usually occupies a straggling horizontal line of 
holes, their burrows are not infrequently to be seen in loose tiers, in which 
case the bank presents a honeycombed appearance. 
Communal life seems a pleasant thing to these Swallows, and there is 
usually a considerable stir of activity around the quarters, and a good deal of 
Taken in Lorain County. Photo by the Author. 
THE BANK. 
