Plate LX. 



Fig. I G0T1LE RIPAR/A-Bank Swallow. 



The Bank Swallow arrives from the South about the middle of April, and remains until the first 

 week in September or later. It rears two broods a year, laying the first set of eggs in May and the 

 second set in July. 



LOCALITY : 



As its name implies, this Swallow builds its nest in a bank. It is especially fond of sandy cliffs, 

 washed at their base by the sluggish current of a river, and it is in such steep, almost perpendicular 

 sandy walls that the majority of nests are placed. Occasionally, nests are found at a distance from wa- 

 ter, in the bank of a gravel-pit or some such place. 



POSITION : 



Like the Kingfisher, the Bank Swallow excavates a burrow. This is round or elliptical and is pro- 

 jected horizontally into the earth from one to three feet, and, occasionally, even to a greater distance. Two 

 feet is about its usual length. At its end the burrow enlarges into a globular room upon the floor of 

 which the nest proper is placed. The distance of the nest from the top of the bank and from the level 

 of the water below, depends upon the conformation of the earth. There are generally several kinds of 

 dirt in these river-banks. First, the surface soil which is a foot or more in depth. Next, a mixture of 

 clay and gravel, then, perhaps, a vein of sand, and below this again gravel or clay. But, whatever the 

 arrangement or proportions of these various layers, the Swallow almost invariably selects the vein of sand 

 for its nest. Often this sand is near the top of the cliff forty or fifty feet, or even a greater distance 

 above the water. Sometimes the cliff itself is low and the sand is within ten feet of the water. As a 

 rule the burrow is placed as near the top of the bank as the sand will permit, and it is seldom a bank 

 is chosen for the site in which the top of the sand layer is nearer the water than ten feet. 



MATERIALS : 



The floor of the room mentioned above is concave, from four to six inches in diameter, and affords a 

 suitable foundation for the nest. I have examined nearly fifty of these nests and have found weed-stems, 

 straws, and chicken-feathers in various quantities and proportions in nearly all of them. In three in- 

 stances the eggs were deposited upon the sand, not even a straw having been carried into the burrow. 

 The most perfect nests consist of a layer of weed-stems and straws about half an inch thick and are lined 

 with an abundance of long, soft feathers from the poultry-yard, many of these feathers being twice the 

 length of the Swallow. Generally a few straws, Aveed-stems, and feathers carelessly arranged as a lining 

 for the sandy cavity satisfy the builders. The entrance to the nest is usually round, and about two and 

 a half inches in diameter. Sometimes it is elliptical with the greatest diameter in the horizontal plane. 



219 



