THE OOLOGIST'S EXCHANGE. 



VOL. II. 



NEW YOEK, AUGUST, 1889. 



No. 5. 



The Habits and Nesting of the Bank 

 Swallow. 



by Luther N. Rossiter. 



The Bank Swallow (Clivicola riparia) 

 also known as Sand Swallow or Sand 

 Martin is an inhabitant of these regions, 

 and during the nesting season congre- 

 gates in large numbers about the high 

 banks of Lake Michigan wherever there 

 is a suitable place for them to dig their 

 i.ests. The most marked characteristics 

 of these Martins are their long wings 

 and wonderful nesting habits. In regard 

 to color, their upper parts and breast 

 are dusky brown while the underparts 

 are -white. They inhabit Europe, Asia, 

 Africa and America, and so are a truly 

 cosmopolitan bird. First let us consider 

 their habits. They begin to arrive about 

 April 12, and are all here by April 23, 

 when mating season commences. Their 

 food consists of insects and flies, which 

 their long wings well adapt them to catch 

 and about here are never vei*y far inland 

 from the lake bank, while hundreds may 

 at nearly all times of the day be seen 

 skimming and darting over the water 

 occasionally plunging through the top of 

 a small wave or gracefully wheeling up- 

 wards in the air, and if their nests are 

 attacked rushing hither and thither 

 around the assailants uttering sharp 

 cries and sometimes even dashing 

 against one's head in their frenzy. 

 Second, let us consider the nesting of 

 the Swallow. After they have mated 

 they divide into colonies of from half a 

 dozen to fifty pairs anrl select suitable 

 places, (which are generally in an abrupt 

 sandy part of the bluff and from twenty- 

 five to fifty feet high) here they dig 

 tunnels about two and one-half inches 

 in width and not quite so high and 

 rarely less than eighteen inches, or more 

 than four feet in depth. Each hole is 

 from six inches to a foot or two from its 

 neighbor, but sometimes a tunnel will 

 be found which branches into two 

 seperate ones, a foot or so from its 

 mouth and each extremity inhabited by 

 a pair. The holes generally slope up so 

 that the rain will not run in and are en- 

 larged and slightly hollowed out at the 

 inner end to make a space for the nest. 



I have not been able to tame any as 

 pets although I have tried to many 

 times, for after the birds are caught 

 they refuse to eat and soon die unless 

 liberated. This has also been the ex- 

 perience of several of my friends. This 

 species seems to be gradually decreasing 

 in numbers about here, no doubt on 

 account of the depredations of young 

 collectors who yearly dig out the nests 

 and often thus destroy whole colonies. 



Lake Forest, 111. , July 20. 1889. 



Florida Birds No. 3. 



by F. 0. Baker. 



It was a bright warm day in January, 

 when a friend and myself launched "a 

 rowboat and started out for a day's hunt 

 on an island near by, called Scott's Park. 



The first bird to arrest our attention 

 was a splendid specimen of a Water 

 Turkey or Snake Bird (Anhinga anhinga) 

 I quickly fired at him and had the ex- 

 treme satisfaction of seeing him quietly 

 dive and disappear in the water. 



Perhaps a note or two upon this 

 strange bird may not be out of place 

 here. The old name (and by the way a 

 much better one) was Plotus anhinga, 

 but for some reason the authorities have 

 changed it to its present name of An- 

 hinga anhinga. The Snake Bird is found 

 all along our Southern coasts. It is 

 adapted to catching its prey under 

 water, either by impaling upon its 

 sharp pointed bill, or by seizing be- 

 tween its serrated mandibles. Its 

 favorite position is just above the water, 

 into which it drops so quietly as to 

 make scarcely a ripple. It swims be- 

 neath the surface until perhaps a thou- 

 sand yards away, when it will protrude 

 only its bill and eyes, and if danger is 

 near it will quickly disappear again 

 and swim to a place of safety. The 

 crimped tail feathers serve as a rudder, 

 but the wings are not used in swim- 

 ming. A most curious fact in con- 

 nection with this bird, is that all healthy 

 individuals are infested over the brain 

 with a parasitic worm. Nine-tenths of 

 both old and young are thus infested, 

 and yet apparently do not suffer in 

 health. 



