258 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGT. 



about ten rods square, I counted over fifty. Of course, the 

 birds were in myriads, and the species constitutes the com- 

 mon Swallow of the districts in that latitude. The materials 

 used in the construction of the nest are fine grasses, hay, 

 and feathers : these are adjusted loosely in the cavity of the 

 tree, and without any form. The eggs are, most commonly, 

 five in number. Their color is a beautiful clear-white, with 

 a roseate tint before their contents are removed : they are 

 extremely thin and fiiigile, much more so than most of the 

 other species ; and their form is a slender oval. Of a great 

 number of specimens, collected in various localities, the 

 largest is .79 by .56 inch: the smallest, .69 by .51 inch. 

 Two broods are orenerallv reared in the season, and the 

 period of incubation is fourteen days. 



This species leaves Xew England in the fall migration 

 about the 10th of September. 



COTTLE. Bom. 



fc'.J^. Boiz. Isi5 (1822), ooO. (Tvpe E. riparia.) 



Biil very fiat, extremely broad at the ba5e, and gradually narrowed towards 

 the tip ; nostrils prominent and roimded ; tail moderate, nearly straight, or some- 

 what emarginated : tarsi rather shorter than the middle toe, slender and scntellated ; 

 toes very slender, the claws slightly curved : colors generally doll brown above, 

 withont gloss. 



COTTLE RIPARIA. — Boie. 



The Bank SwaHor. 



mnndo riparia, Linnsns. Syst. Xat., I. (1766) 344. WDs. Am. Om., Y. 46. 

 And. Om. Biog., IT. (1535) 584. 



Cotyle riparia, Boie, Isis (1822), 5.50. 



Desceiptios. 



The smallest of American swallows : tail slightly emarginate ; onter web of first 

 pfrimary soft, without hooks ; lower part of the tarsus with a few scattered feathers ; 

 above grayish-brown, somewhat fuliginous, with a tendency to paler mar^ns to the 

 feathers ; beneath pure-white, with a band across the breast and sides of the body 

 like the back. 



Length, four and seventy-five one-hundredths inches; wing, four; tall two 

 inches. 



