Birds of Massachusetts. 187 
interesting to see them engaged in their labor. They 
often, unfortunately, are compelled to work in vain. 
Idle boys destroy their tenement, or some improve- 
ment destroys the bank ; but they are so hopeful and 
persevering, that they will continue boring the earth, 
even when the shovel, day after day, destroys the 
results of their exertion. 
The nest is formed with bits of dry grass and 
feathers. The eggs of the first brood are from five 
to seven, of a pure white. The young, as soon as 
they are able, crawl to the entrance, where they 
become a prey to crows and hawks, which lie in 
wait to catch them, both at that time, and after 
they have left the nest to perch in trees. In winter, 
these birds resort to East Florida, where they are 
seen by thousands. Audubon has discovered that 
there is another species, nearly resembling this, and 
often confounded with it. He has given it the name 
of rough-winged swallow, H. serripennis. The bill 
is longer, with the point of the upper mandible more 
decurved. The tail is shorter and but slightly 
emarginate. There are no feathers on the hinder 
part of the tarsus, as in the common species, and the 
wings extend half an inch beyond the tail. 
The Cumney SwarLow, Cypselus pelasgius, is a 
singular bird, which formerly, when the country was 
unsettled, made its nest and place of resort in hollow 
trees ; but having discovered that chimneys have an 
. advantage over those wild tenements, and that a 
great proportion of them are not in use in the sum- 
mer, it has now become familiar with man, and 
