142 BIRDS OF NEW ENGLAND AND EASTERN NEW YORK 



the breast lighter than in the Bank Swallow, so that there is 

 no appearance of a dark band across the breast. The choice 

 of a nesting-site is often a clue to the bird's identity ; if 

 one sees in the region above defined what is apparently a 

 Bank Swallow entering a crevice in masonry or in a. natural 

 ledge of rock, or a hole in a building, one may be pretty 

 confident that it is a Eough-winged Swallow. 



Bank Swallow. Biparia riparia 



6.20 



Ad. — Upper parts grayish-brown ; under parts white ; a 

 brmimish hand across the breast ; tail slightly forked. 

 Nest, in a hole in a sandy bank. Eggs, white. 



The Bank Swallow is a summer resident throughout 

 New York and New England, arriving late in April, and 

 leaving early in September. Over 

 the surface of the large New Eng- 

 land rivers, from the Housatonic to 

 the Penobscot, and up the valleys 

 of their tributaries, far into the 

 mountains, little bands of these 

 small brown swallows hunt back 

 and forth throughout the summer. 



Fig. 32. Bank Swallow ^^^^^^ °^ "^^^^ O^" ^^nd, cut through 

 by the river, are breeding-sites for 

 colonies of. them ; occasionally they take possession of a 

 deserted gravel-pit. Here the little toes scratch out holes 

 which run two or three feet into the bank ; often there are 

 many holes close to each other, and perhaps a Kingfisher's 

 hole, twice as large as the swallow's, among them. 



The small size of the Bank Swallow, the absence of any 

 blue or greenish lustre, and its harsh, gritty note easily dis- 

 tinguish it from all other adult Swallows, except in south- 

 western Connecticut and the lower Hudson Valley. Here 

 the Eough-winged Swallow must be taken into considera- 



