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BANK SWALLOW OR SAND MARTIN. 
HiruNDoO RIPARIA, Linn. 
PLATE CCCLXXXV. Mats, Femate, anp Youne. 
Imactine, Reader, how delighted I was when, in East Florida, in 
the winter of 1831, I found thousands of Bank Swallows gaily skim- 
ming over the waters, and along the shores of the rivers and inlets. So 
numerous indeed were they that I felt inclined to think that the greater 
part of those which are in summer dispersed over the United States, 
and the regions still farther north, must have congregated to form those 
vast swarms. The first time I saw them was before sunrise, when I 
stood by the side of Lieutenant Percy of our Navy, on the deck of the 
United States’ schooner the Spark, then at anchor opposite St Augus- 
tine. The weather though warm, was thick and drizzly, so that we 
could not see to a great distance; but as probably some hundreds of 
thousands passed close to the vessel, in long and rather close flocks, I 
was well enabled to assure myself that the birds were of this species. 
On my expressing my surprise and delight at beholding so vast a con- 
course, Lieutenant Prercy assured me, that he had seen them on all 
the streams which he had visited south of where we then were. The 
weather cleared up in a few hours, the sun shone brightly, and the 
little creatures were seen all around, dipping into the water to wash 
themselves, gambolling close over its surface, and busily engaged in 
procuring insects, which in that country are always abundant. In the 
course of the same season I also observed a good number of our Green- 
backed and Barn Swallows, but few compared with what is seen about 
New Orleans. 
We can thus account for the early appearance of the Bank Swallows 
in our Middle Districts. That species always arrives there sooner 
than the rest, sometimes preceding them by a fortnight, and keeping 
equally in advance as far northward as its range extends. The Green- 
backed Swallow, Hirundo bicolor, follows closely after it; then the Pur- 
ple Martin, Hirundo purpurea ; after which are seen the Barn Swallow, 
Hirundo rustica, and lastly, on our eastern Atlantic coasts, the American 
Swift, Cypselus Americanus. It is probable that these species extend 
