BANK SWALLOW. 359 
born....’’ With these characteristic words in his “Birds of the Colorado Valley,” our 
ingenious naturalist, Dr. Elliott Coues, introduces the BANK SwaLLow, or SAND MarTIN, 
to his readers. ; 
' The Bank Swallow is one of the most abundant and familiar birds of Europe, 
Asia, and North America. Our own Sand Martins winter in Central and South America, 
while those inhabiting Europe choose their winter-quarters in Africa, and those occurring 
in northern Asia spend their winters in India. In our country they breed from Texas 
northward to Alaska, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. They are rather locally 
distributed, being abundant only where they can find high, rather sandy banks near 
water. Wherever the banks are clayey or rocky, these weak-billed birds are not able to 
excavate nesting holes. I have found a few pairs breeding in some parts of Texas, 
especially on the barks of Galveston Bay, on the Buffalo and White Oak Bayous. In 
certain parts of my native State Wisconsin, particularly in Sheboygan County, they 
are exceedingly abundant. The sandy banks of the Sheboygan and Pigeon Rivers, and 
Lake Michigan are full of nesting holes, presenting in June the appearance of immense 
honey-combs alive with bees. Mr. Otto Widmann and myself found them breeding in 
an embankment of a railroad in southern Illinois near East St. Louis, the other bank 
being occupied by several pairs of Rough-winged Swallows. 
The Bank Swallow is an early spring visitant wherever found, appearing in Wis- 
consin, if the weather permits, late in April or early in May. Even in high Arctic 
latitudes it has been known to arrive early in May, often in such inclement weather 
that it was obliged to take refuge in holes. Mr. Dall met with this species in immense 
numbers in Alaska in favorable situations. He counted on the face of a sand-bluff 
over seven hundred nest-holes, made by these Swallows, and all apparently occupied. 
All our Swallows are known to breed near human abodes, but the Bank Swallow 
is entirely independent of man. It never breeds in boxes and Martin-houses, and never 
enters barns or other buildings. The nests of the Bank Swallows are always placed in 
excavations constructed by themselves, usually in the sandy banks of river and lake 
banks, and on the sea-shore and similar favorable situations. These excavations are 
usually near the surface of ‘the ground, and always in such soil which permits to be 
readily penetrated. Sandy soil, soft enough to be worked, is always preferred. It is 
astonishing how far these weak-billed and weak-footed birds penetrate the ground. The 
depth of the cavities varies from twelve or fourteen inches to four feet, though two feet 
is the usual distance. In favorable positions the river banks are studded with neat 
little round holes. According to Mr. Winfrid A. Stearns, “they display much tact in 
selecting the most suitable soil to work in, neither too hard to be penetrated with ease, 
nor too soft as to cave in, or be unsafe from the falling of loosened pebbles. Any 
one may be satisfied of this by examining a bank where different strata are exposed, 
and noting how the Swallows confine themselves to such belts of soil as suit them best. 
At the farther end of the passage-way the nest is placed—a slight affair of dried grasses 
lined with feathers.” The eggs are from four to six in number and of a pure white 
color. 
The flight of the Bank Swallow is very rapid, but unsteady and flickering, show- 
ing little of the extreme gracefulness of the Barn Swallow’s and the Purple Martin’s 
