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The late Dr. Brewer gives the following account of the nesting of this Swallow : — 

 " This species was first found breeding in Carlisle, Penn., by Professor Baird, in the 

 summer of 1813. The following year I visited this locality early in June, and had an 

 opportunity to study its habits during its breeding-season. We found the birds rather 

 commoH, and examined a number of their nests. None that we met with were in places 

 that had been excavated by the birds, although the previous season several had been 

 found that had been apparently excavated in banks in the same manner as the Bank- 

 Swallow. All the nests (seven in number) that we then met with were in situations 

 accidentally adapted to their need, and all were directly over running water. Some 

 were constructed in crevices between the stones in the walls and arches of bridges. In 

 several instances the nests were but little above the surface of the stream. In one, the 

 first laying had been flooded, and the eggs chilled. The birds had constructed another 

 nest above the first one, in which were six fresh eggs, as many as in the other. One 

 uest had been built between the stones of the wall that formed one of the sides of the 

 flume of a mill. Two feet above it was a frequented foot-path, and, at the same distance 

 below, the water of the mill-stream. Another nest was between the boards of a small 

 building in which revolved a water-wheel. The entrance to it was through a knot-hole 

 in the outer partition, and the nest rested on a small rafter between the outer and the 

 inner boardings. The nests were similar in their construction to those of the Bank- 

 Swallow, composed of dry grasses, straws, and leaves, lined with a few feathers ; but a 

 much greater amount of material was made use of, owing, perhaps, to the exposed position 

 in which they were built. The eggs, six in number, in every instance that we noticed, 

 were pure white, about the size of those of C. riparia, but a little more uniformly 

 oblong in shape, and pointed at one end. Their length varies from - 78to - 69 of an inch, 

 the average being *75. Their average breadth is '53 of an inch." 



Concerning the above notice of Dr. Brewer's, Professor Coues remarks : — 



" In this picture of the bird at home we see it already modified in habits by contact 

 with civilization, and require another portraiture, which fortunately Mr. Walter Van 

 Pleet has furnished. In an interesting article entitled ' Notes on the Rough-winged 

 Swallow (Hirundo serripennis) in Pennsylvania,' published in the Bulletin Nuttall Club, 

 i. p. 9 (1870) he gives the results of two years' careful observation of the economy of the 

 bird, especially in comparison with Gotile. I condense most of his article in the 

 following paragraph : — 



" The Bough-wing, unlike the Bank-Swallow, is not gregarious while nesting, the 

 pairing being their only association. The nests are not crowded together, but scattered 

 at irregular intervals along the banks of streams, wherever favourable sites occur. The 

 birds seldom excavate holes for themselves, preferring to take some suitable cavity and 

 refit it to their taste ; thus, they are often found in deserted Kingfishers' holes, where 

 the nest is placed a foot or so from the entrance. They will also, on finding a decayed 

 root of sufficient size leading in from their favourite sand banks, remove the soft punky 

 wood, following the winding of the root to a depth of about two feet, where they place 



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