Ne 
358 BANK SWALLOW. 
A 
“This is enough to settle the question we asked each other for some years, Where 
does the Violet-green breed? We have here simply a hole-breeder, indifferent whether the 
cavity it occupies be tree or rock; and we need not be surprised to learn any day that 
it has been found nestling in a bank of earth, in a natural excavation, or even in a 
: Kingfisher’s or Bank or Rough-winged Swallow’s hole. One thing, however: it has 
never learned the plasterer’s trade, at which the Cliff and Barn Swallows are such clever 
artisans; and yet it has been stated by me, in the ‘Birds of the North-west,’ p. 88, on 
the authority of Mr. T. M. Trippe, to have been found ‘nesting under the eaves of 
houses, like the Cliff Swallow,’ the fact being adduced to show ‘that, like most others 
of its tribe, this bird had at length paid its compliments to human civilization. The 
details of the circumstance had not been communicated to me in 1874; but Mr. Trippe 
yesterday (March 17, 1878) visited my study, and we had some conversation on the 
subject. He described the nests, in which Violet-green Swallows certainly had their eggs, 
as bulky structures of mud, and like those of Cliff Swallows. Being perfectly familiar 
with the birds, he could not have been mistaken in identifying the species; and he agreed 
with me that the birds must have occupied in these instances the deserted nests of other 
Swallows. This brings up Nuttall’s early testimony to the same effect, and makes it 
seem much more probable—if it may not indeed be regarded as confirmatory —though he 
or Townsend certainly got hold of the wrong egg, a drawing of which subsequently 
came into Dr. Brewer’s possession through Audubon. We should expect the Violet-greens, 
on yielding to civilization, to come to terms in the same way the Martins and White- 
bellies have, by occupying boxes set up for their use, or else to enter knot-holes or the 
crevices behind weather-boards, as the Wrens; but that their habits will be modified in 
some way, and at no distant day, there is no reasonable doubt. With which under- 
standing, I leave the wilful and capricious little creatures to enjoy their hermitages, 
whether of tree or rock, as long as they please.”’ 
The eggs are pure white, without spots. 
NAMES: VIOLET-GREEN SwaLLow, Mountain Swallow.—Gebirgsschwalbe (German). 
SCIENTIFIC NAMES: Hirundo thalassina Swains. (1827). TACHYCINETA THALASSINA Can. (1850). 
DESCRIPTION: Adult male: Top of head, hind-neck, back, and scapulars, rich green, either the head and 
neck or dorsal region, or both, usually overlaid by a more or less distinct wash of bronze or purple; 
rump and upper tail-coverts rich bluish-green or bluish, usually mixed with rich plum-purple; a white 
patch on each side of the rump, these in life often brought close together so as apparently to form a 
continuous white band; entire lower parts, including ear-coverts and line over posterior half (or 
more) of eye, pure white, but the feathers immediately beneath surface grayish. 
BANK SWALLOW. 
Clivicola riparia STEJNEGER. 
©* THIS cosmopolite, little remains to be said by any one at the present day. 
One of our best writers wittily complains that the poets have stolen our best 
thoughts; and I might lament, that some of my best bird-biographies have been 
plagiarized in the most shocking manner by ornithologists who died before I was 
J 
