XI. 



BANK-SWALL WS. 



THE bird which is the subject of this sketch is familiar 

 to all who walk in green pastures and beside still waters ; 

 for in such haunts do the bank -swallows congregate in 

 merry companies, making up for their want of companion- 

 ship with man, which is so characteristic of the other hiran- 

 dines, by a large sociability among themselves. Conserva- 

 tor of ancient ways, it is almost the only swallow which has 

 not attached itself to humanity as 'soon as it had opportu- 

 nity, and changed from a savage to a civilized bird. Per- 

 haps it, too, has tried it long ago, and voluntarily returned 

 to the fields; for our bank- swallow is a cosmopolite, and 

 has watched the rise and fall of all the dynasties and na- 

 tionalities that have grouped the centuries into eras, from 

 Nineveh to San Francisco. Even now it is an inhabitant 

 of all Europe and eastward to China ; of a large part of 

 Africa, especially in winter ; and throughout North Amer- 

 ica, the West Indies, Central America, and the northern 



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