OF VIRGINIA 259 
May 5th, it is somewhat early for eggs, but the nest 1s 
well under construction, of fine straws and grasses, lined 
with feathers. May 25th to 30th finds full sets of eggs, 
four to six in number, pure white. Size, .75x.50. 
Sociable little fellows, they take kindly to civilization and 
advantage of any hole in the house, weather-boarding or 
outbuildings, to use as a nesting cavity. I remember well 
the first nest I found in a building, a knot having dropped 
out of the weather-boarding over a window sill in a house 
on one of the islands off our coast. We could easily stand 
on a barrel and see the four well-feathered young, while 
the old birds lit on the eves and watched us intently, not 
more than four feet away. They do not winter with us, 
arriving in numbers by April 1st, my record arrival being 
March 21st, 1912. Our local birds begin to migrate south- 
ward about September 1st, but as late as October 25th still 
finds the northward birds passing through in countless 
numbers. During this time thousands may be seen 
perched on the telegraph wires along the roadside, or 
skimming over some corn or hay field, gathering in winged 
insects of all sorts, which form their principal food. 
They are a most beneficial bird, though they raise but 
one brood a season. They do not nest in our section 
except in Northampton and Accomac counties, and then 
principally on the islands off the mainland. 
GENUs RIPaARIA. 
[616]. Reiparia riparia (Linneus). Bank Swallow. ‘ 
Ranex.— Northern Hemisphere. In North America 
breeds in Boreal, Transition, and Austral zones from near 
limit of trees in northern Alaska and northern Ungava 
