402 SINGING BIRDS. 



ally two broods in the season, and on the egress of the young 

 in the latter end of May the piratical Crows often await their 

 opportunity to destroy them as they issue from the nest. In 

 rocky countries the birds often take possession of the clefts 

 on the banks of rivers for their dwelling, and sometimes they 

 content themselves with the holes of trees. 



Their voice is only a low twitter of short lisping notes ; and 

 while busily passing backwards and forwards in the air around 

 their numerous burrows, they seem at a distance almost similar 

 to hiving bees. As they arrive earlier than other species, the 

 cold and unsettled weather often drives them for refuge in 

 their holes, where they cluster together for warmth, and have 

 thus been found almost reduced to a state of torpidity. Dwel- 

 ling thus shut up, they are often troubled with swarms of infest- 

 ing insects, resembling fleas, which assemble in great numbers 

 around their holes. They begin to depart to the South from 

 the close of September to the middle of October. Although 

 they avoid dwelling near houses, they do not fly from settled 

 vicinities ; and parties of six or more, several miles from their 

 nests, have been seen skimming through the streets of adjacent 

 villages in the province of Normandy. 



They are found on both sides of North America, from the 

 shores of the Atlantic to the borders of the Columbia, and in 

 all the intermediate region suited to their manner of breeding. 

 According to Audubon, they winter in great numbers in Florida, 

 and breed from Labrador to Louisiana. 



If the Bank Swallow was found in Labrador by Audubon it has 

 since changed its habitat to the extent of deserting that country, 

 for during recent years only one example has been seen on the 

 northern side of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, though colonies have 

 been found on Anticosti and the Magdalen Islands. 



In the Far West these birds range to much higher latitudes, a 

 few having been met with along the valley of the Mackenzie 

 River, and in Alaska. They breed from the Gulf States northward, 

 and winter in the tropics, ranging as far south as Brazil. They 

 are locally common throughout the Eastern States and the adjoin 

 ing Provinces. 



