92 



THE OOLOQIST. ^^ C^Jj H<^^ 



THE ROUGH WINGED SWALLOW. 



This species is a peculiar bird in 

 many respects. It is nowhere com- 

 mon; nearly everywhere rare, and yet 

 is found in almost every part of the 

 United States. It is distinguished 

 from the common Bank Swallow in 

 that it is lighter, and its throat and 

 breast are of a pale gray without 

 markings. It lacks entirely, the metal- 

 lic coloring so common to the Swal- 

 low family. In hand, the specimen 

 is easily distinguished from the com- 

 mon Bank Swallow, by the minute 

 recurved, hooklike feathers along the 

 edge of the outer primaries, from 

 which it gets its name — "Rough 

 Wing." 



It nests nearly all over the United 

 States, but differs somewhat in its 

 home life from the Bank Swallow. 

 Its nests are seldom placed in colo- 

 nies of over five or six, and sometimes 

 are in crevices of buildings, abut- 

 ments of bridges or even holes in 

 trees, sites never affected so far as 

 the writer knows, by the common 

 Bank Swallow. 



Throughout Central Illinois, the 

 Bank Swallow is of irregular general 

 distribution and is found nesting in 

 the banks and sides of dry creek beds, 

 usually in rather sandy soil, in lim 

 ited numbers; seldom more than 

 three or four nests being found near 

 each other. More often, not more than 

 one or two in a place. The eggs of 

 this species are as with the Bank 

 Swallow, pure white with a slight 

 yellowish-pink tinge before blowing 

 when fresh; usually six in namber, 

 and are laid as a general thing at the 

 end of a burrow dug in the side of a 

 creek bank from two to three feet 

 deep, into which there has been car- 

 ried, a considerable amount of straw, 

 grass and feathers; it being our ob- 

 servation that this bird builds a much 

 more substantial nest than the Bank 

 Swallow. At times it is even found 

 nesting sparingly with colonies of 

 Bank Swallows. 



The nest of a bird nesting in a cav- 

 ity or bank is always hard to repro- 

 duce in a picture, but we present 

 herewith a view of a set of Rough 

 Winged Swallow's eggs in situ, pho- 

 toed by Isaac E. Hess, of Philo, Illi- 

 nois. 



SMOTHERED IN A SAND 

 DUNE. 



Young Naturalist Hunting for 

 Birds Eggs Dies in Cave in. 



"NORFOLK, Va., May 24.— 

 Richard P. Smithwick, aged 22 

 years, a naturalist, lost his life 

 as the result of the cave-in of 

 a sand dune in the "Princess 

 Anne Desert" between Lynn 

 Haven Inlet and Cape Henry, for 

 Kingfisher eggs. A searching 

 party Sunday found Smithwick's 

 body with his feet only project- 

 ing through the sand." 



The foregoing press dispatch 

 tells of the sad ending of an ac- 

 tive, useful life. Mr. Smithwick 

 was an active young worker in 

 his chosen field of science. And 

 had his life been spared, would 

 without doubt have left his mark 

 therein. The manner of his 

 death may well warn others not 

 to incur similar dangers. It is 

 with a feeling of sadness that 

 we take his name from our sub- 

 scription list. 



MIGRATING CHIMNEY SWALLOWS 

 DESCEND SCHOOL CHIMNEY. 



On the evening of May 6th, Philo 

 was visited by a veritable army of 

 Swifts, the air above seemingly alive 

 with these active little birds known to 

 many as Chimney Swallows. 



Quite a number of persons in the vi- 

 cinity of the public school building, 

 were attracted by their evolution 

 about 7 o'clock in the evening and 

 witnessed one of the rarest sights 

 known to nature observers. 



The phenomenon has been most in- 

 terestingly recorded by an old In- 

 dian scientist, Chief Simon Pokagon 

 who has written many articles on the 

 bird life of Michigan his native home. 

 His observation however was in the 

 dense woods where myriads of 

 Swifts entered a big hollow tree to 

 spend the night. Our modern 

 Swifts have accepted the brick chim- 

 neys furnished by man and the public 

 school house chimney was the gath- 



