EOUGH-WINGED SWALLOW. 2)1 



A suitable site for nesting may be occupied by a colony of from twenty 

 to fifty pairs of these birds. The holes are usually dug quite near the 

 level of the ground, on the perpendicular face of a bank. They are ex- 

 cavated by the birds, and extend to the depth of from two to four feet. 

 The termination of the excavation is usually somewhat enlarged, and 

 the floor thinly covered with straw and feathers, on which the eggs are 

 deposited. These are five in number, pure white, measuring .72 by .47. 



Genus STELGIDOPTEKYX. Baird. 



Bill rather small; nostrils oval, superior, margined behind hut scarcely laterally by 

 membrane, but not at all overhung ; the axes of the outline converging. Frontal 

 feathers soft, and, like chin, without bristles. Tarsus equal to nuddle toe without claw ; 

 the upper end covered with feathers ail round, none at lower end. Basal joint of middle 

 toe adherent externally nearly to end; internally scarcely half. Lateral toes about 

 equal, their claws not reaching beyond base of middle claw. Tail slightly emarglnate ; 

 the feathers broad and obliquely rounded at end. Edge of wing rough to the touch ; 

 the shafts of the tibrillae of the outer web of the outer primary prolonged and bent at 

 right-angles into a short, stiif hook. 



Stelgidopteeyx seeripennis (Aud.) Bd. 



I2.ougli-"wiiage<i Swallo^v. 



Cotyle serripennis, Kirkpatkick, Ohio Farmer, viii, 1859, 290.— Whbaton, Ohio Agric« 



Kep. for 1860, 1861, 374 ; Reprint, 6, 16. 

 Stelgidopterix (error) serripennis, Whbaton, Food of Birds, etc., Ohio Agric. Eep. for 1874, 



1«7.5, 565 ; Reprint, 5. 

 Stelgidopleryx serripennis, Langdon, Cat. Birds of Gin., 1877, 7; Revised List, Journ, 



Cin. Soc. Nat. Hisi , i, lc79, 173; Reprint, 7. 



Sirundo serripennis, Audubon, Orn. Biog., iv, 1838, 593. 



Cotyle serripennis, BoiB, Isis, 1844, 170. 



Stelyidopteryx serripennis, Baird, Rev. Am. Birds, 1864, 314. 



Lustreless brownish-gray, paler below, whitening on the billy. Rather larger than, 

 the last. Booklets on outer web of outer primary wanting, or much weaker in the fe- 

 male. 



Habitat, United States, from Atlantic to Pacific, and probably adjoining British Pro- 

 vinces. British Columbia. Rare or wanting in Northeastern States ; south to Guate- 

 mala. 



Abundant summer resident. Breeds. Arrives about the middle of 

 April and remains until September. 



Next to the Barn Swallow, this appears to be our most abundant 

 species. It is generally confounded with the Bank Swallow, which it 

 resembles, and with which it frequently associates, sometimes breeding 

 in the same location. A little care will soon enable one to distinguish 

 between the species at a considerable distance. The Rough -winged 



