\ 
358 BANK SWALLOW JR SAND MARTIN. 
BANK-SWALLOW, OR SAND MARTIN. —HIRUNDO 
RIPARIA.—Eic. 165. 
Lath. Syn. iv. p. 568, 10. — Arct. Zool. ii. No. 332. — L’Hirondelle de rivage, Buff. 
vi. 632. Pl. enl. 543, f. 2. — Turt. Syst. 629. — Peale’s Museum, No. 1637. 
; HIRUNDO? RIPARIA? — Linsxus.* 
ae 
" \Hirundo riparia, Bonap. Synop. p. 65.— Cotile riparia, Boje. 
Tuis appears to be the most sociable with its kind, and the least 
intimate with man, of all our Swallows; living together in large com- 
munities of sometimes three or four hundred. On the high sandy bank 
of a river, quarry, or gravel-pit, at a foot or two from the surface, they 
commonly scratch out holes for their nests, running them in a hori- 
zontal direction to the depth of two and sometimes three feet. Several 
of these holes are often within-a few inches of each other, and extend 
in various strata along the front of the precipice, sometimes for eighty 
or one hundred yards. At the extremity of this hole, a little fine, dry 
grass, with a few large, downy feathers, form the bed on which their 
eggs, generally five in number, and pure white, are deposited. The 
young are hatched late in May; and here I have taken notice of the 
Common Crow, in parties of four or five, watching at the entrance of 
these holes, to seize the first straggling young that should make ‘its 
appearance. From the clouds of Swallows that usually play round 
these breeding-places, they remind one at a distance of a swarm of 
bees, 
The Bank Swallow arrives here earlier than either of the preceding ;. 
begins to build in April, and has commonly two broods in the season. 
Their voice is a low mutter. They are particularly fond of the shores 
of rivers, and, in several places along the Ohio, they congregate in 
immense multitudes. We have sometimes several days of cold rain 
and severe weather after their arrival in spring, from which they take 
refuge in their holes, clustering together for warmth, and have been 
frequently found at such times in almost a lifeless state with the cold; 
which circumstance has contributed to the belief that they lie torpid 
* T have been unable to compare specimens of these birds from both countries, « 
but, from the best authorities, Iam induced to consider them identical. A doubt | 
has been expressed by Vieillot, who considered the American bird as possessing 
a greater length of tarsus, and having that part also clothed with short plumes. 
Bonaparte has, again, from actual comparison, said they were entirely similar. 
As in America, they are the first Swallow which appears in this country, arriving 
soon after the commencement of March. Their reeding-places are in the same 
situations, but often pierced into the banks for a rauch greater length. If the bank 
is sandy and easily scratched, seven or eight feet will scareely reach the extremity 
—a wonderful length, if we consider the powers of the worker. 
‘They are abundant over every part of North America, and were met by Dr. 
Richardson in the 68th parallel. * We observed,” says that naturalist, ‘ thousands 
of these Sand Martins fluttering at the entrance of their burrows, near the mouth of 
the Mackenzie, in the 68th parallel, on the 4th of July. ‘They are equally numerous 
in every district of the Fur Countries, wherein banks suitable for burrowing exist’; 
but it is not likely that they ever rear more than one brood north of the Lake Su- 
perior.” —Ep 
