82 BANK SWALLOW 



unforked tail. Eave Swallows build most interest- 

 ing adobe nests under the eaves of barns and other 

 outbuildings, or beneath the edge of an overhanging 

 clifif. These ingenious nests are shaped like a flat- 

 tened gourd or water-bottle, and are plastered against 

 the ceiling, the neck of the bottle — from three to five 

 inches long — having a slight downward curve. They 

 are constructed of bits of clay rolled into pellets, and 

 stuck together with some mucilaginous substance, 

 making a rather brittle, pebbly-looking wall. 



It is believed that the settlement of these Swallows 

 in a neighborhood is determined by the presence of 

 ■the right sort of clay for their masonry. They are 

 greatly persecuted by English Sparrows, which try 

 to take possession of their nests, and they will desert 

 any place when the Sparrows become too numerous. 



It is estimated that every Eave Swallow destroys 

 a thousand insects a day — flies, mosquitoes, wheat- 

 midgets, and the beetles that injure fruit-trees. 



Bank Swallow: Clivicola riparia. 



Length 5 inches. 



Upper parts grayish-brown, a band of the same color 

 across the white breast. 



Resident from April J5 to September 25. Winters as far 

 south as Brazil. 



This, the smallest of our Swallows, is known by the 

 dark band across his breast. He is rather common 

 about Washington and may be looked for wherever 

 sand banks rise perpendicularly out of the water, for 

 he nests in holes excavated in a vertical wall. The 

 nest is generally two or three feet in from the en- 

 trance, and the white eggs, 4 to 6, are unmarked. 

 Bank Swallows nest in colonies, and rows of their 



