114 



Handbook of Nature-Study 



A bank swallow tenement. 



Photo by J. T. Lloyd. 



nests are more or less supported upon a beam or rafter; the eggs are 

 white and dotted with reddish brown. The bam swallows, aside from 



their constant twittering, have also a 

 pretty song. Both parents work at 

 bviilding the nest and feeding the 

 young; there are likely to be several 

 pairs nesting in the same building. 

 The parents continue to feed the 

 young long after they have left the 

 nest; often a whole family may be 

 seen sitting on a telegraph wire or wire 

 fence, the parents still feeding the well- 

 grown youngsters. This species comes 

 north in the latter part of April and 

 leaves early in September. It winters 

 as far south as Brazil. 



The bam swallow has a distinctly 

 tailor-made appearance ; its red-brown 

 vest and iridescent blue coat, with 

 deeply forked "coat tails" give it an 

 elegance of style which no other bird, 

 not even the chic cedar waxwing can 

 emulate. 



The Bank Swallow — When we see a 

 sandy bank apparently shot full of 

 holes as by small cannon balls, we 

 may know that we have found a tenement of bank swallows. These 

 birds always choose the perpendicular banks of creeks or of railroad cuts 

 or of sand pits for their nesting sites; they require a soil sufficiently soft 

 to be tunneled by their weak feet, and yet not so loose as to cave in upon 

 the nest. The tunnel may extend from one to four feet horizontally in 

 the bank with just enough diameter to admit the body of the rather 

 small bird. The nest is situated at the extreme end of the tunnel and 

 is lined with soft feath- 

 ers and grasses. 



The bank swallows 

 arrive late in April and 

 leave early in Septem- 

 ber. They may be dis- 

 tinguished from the 

 other species by their 

 grayish color above ; the 

 throat and breast are 

 white with a broad, 

 brownish band across 

 the breast; the tail is 

 slightly forked. The 

 rough-winged swallow, 

 which is similar in habits 

 to the bank swallow, 

 may be distinguished 

 from it by its gray breast 

 which has no dark band. 



Bank swallow's nest with earth removed showing 



tlie upward direction of the tunnel. 



Photo by J T. Lioyd. 



