THE BANK-SWALLOW. 



HE air is their home, as the water 

 is the home of the fishes. True, 

 you may now and then surprise 

 them in the act of taking a sun- 

 bath on the beach; and if you are 

 quick enough and still enough, you 

 may see them helping themselves 

 to the sand-flies and hoppers, and such folk, that 

 are out for the selfsame purpose of taking a sun- 

 bath. You will not see the swallows running after 

 these things, but they snatch them while lying on 

 the sand. Excepting when taking this sun-bath, 

 it is doubtful if the bank-swallows are ever seen 

 011 the ground. 



The flight of these birds of the air is extremely 

 rapid. They can keep well abreast of a fast ex- 

 press train; and no won- 

 der the common people 

 used to tell curious stories 

 of the way they spend the 

 winter. Not being able to 

 see the swallows in their 



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REFERENCE TOPICS. 

 Hibernation of animals. 

 Why most insect-eating 



birds migrate. 

 How cliffs and high 

 banks are formed. 



