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 

 the nest 

 proper is 

 placed. The 

 bird appears 

 to loosen the 

 earth with its 

 closed beak, 

 s w a y i n g 

 from side to 

 side the 

 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. 



Lorain County 



THE BANK. 



usualh 



Communal life seems a pleasant thing to these Swallows, and there is 

 M y a considerable stir of activity around the quarters, and a good deal of 



