BANK SWALLOW. 425 



Ohio, they congregate in immense multitudes. We have some- 

 times several days of cold rain and severe weather after their ar- 

 rival in spring, from which they take refuge in their holes, 

 clustering together for warmth, and have been frequently found 

 at such times in almost a lifeless state with the cold; which cir- 

 cumstance has contributed to the belief that they lie torpid all 

 winter in these recesses. I have searched hundreds of these holes 

 in the months of December and January, but never found a single 

 Swallow, dead, living, or torpid. I met with this bird in con 

 siderable numbers on the shores of the Kentucky river, be- 

 tween Lexington and Danville. They likewise visit the sea 

 shore, in great numbers, previous to their departure, which con- 

 tinues from the last of September to the middle of October. 



The Bank Swallow is five inches long, and ten inches in ex- 

 tent; upper parts mouse coloured, lower white, with a band of 

 dusky brownish across the upper part of the breast; tail forked, 

 the exterior feather slightly edged with whitish; lores and bill 

 black; legs with a few tufts of downy feathers behind; claws 

 fine pointed and very sharp; over the eye a streak of whitish; 

 lower side of the shafts white; wings and tail darker than the 

 body. The female differs very little from the male. 



This bird appears to be in nothing different from the Euro- 

 pean species; from which circumstance, and its early arrival 

 here, I would conjecture that it passes to a high northern lati- 

 tude on both continents. 



VOL. II. 3 H 



