34 HIRUNDINID.E. 



everywhere afforded the Swallows abundance of breeding-places on the 

 plains, even where there are no streams or other irregularities in the 

 smooth surface of the earth. 



The Minera bores its hole in the sides of the Vizcacha's great burrow, 

 and in this burrow within a burrow the Swallow lays its eggs and rears 

 its young, and is the guest of the Vizcacha, and as much dependent on 

 it as the House- Wren and the Domestic Swallow on man ; so that in 

 spring, when this species returns to the plains, it is in the villages of 

 the Vizcachas that we see them. There they live and spend the day, 

 sporting about the burrows, just as the Common Swallow does about our 

 houses ; and to a stranger on the pampas one of these villages, with its 

 incongruous bird and mammalian inhabitants, must seem a very curious 

 sight in the evening. Before sunset the old male Vizcachas come forth to 

 sit gravely at the mouths of their great burrows. One or two couples 

 of Mineras, their little brown bird-tenants, are always seen running 

 about on the bare ground round the holes, resting at intervals with their 

 tails slowly moving up and down, and occasionally trilling-out their 

 shrill laughter-like cry. Often a pair of Burrowing-Owls also live in 

 the village, occupying one of the lesser disused burrows ; and round 

 them all flit half a dozen little Swallows, like twilight-moths with long 

 black wings. It is never quite a happy family, however, for the Owls 

 always hiss and snap at a Vizcacha if he comes too near; while the 

 little Swallows never become reconciled to the Owls, but perpetually 

 flutter about them, protesting against their presence with long com- 

 plaining notes. 



The nest, made of dry grass lined with feathers, is placed at the 

 extremity of the long, straight, cylindrical burrow, and contains five or 

 six white pointed eggs. I have never seen these Swallows fighting with 

 the Minera to obtain possession of the burrows, for this industrious little 

 bird makes itself a fresh one every spring, so that there are always 

 houses enough for the Swallows. After the young have flown, they sit 

 huddled together on a weed or thistle-top, and the parents continue to 

 feed them for many days. 



As in size and brightness of plumage, so in language is the Bank- 

 Swallow inferior to other species, its only song being a single, weak, 

 trilling note, much prolonged, which the bird repeats with great 

 frequency when on the wing. Its voice has ever a mournful, mono- 

 tonous sound, and even when it is greatly excited and alarmed, as at 

 the approach of a fox or hawk, its notes are neither loud nor shrill. 

 When flying they glide along close to the earth, and frequently alight 

 on the ground to rest, which is contrary to the custom of other 

 Swallows. Like other species of this family, they possess the habit of 



