The Rough-winged Swallow 
Bear Valley, hard put to it for nesting sites in an otherwise delectable 
country, attached their retorts to the sides and under surfaces of great 
pine trees. On the beach cliffs near Santa Barbara I have found them, 
not intermingling freely with the Bank Swallows, but sponging more 
or less upon the latter for nesting sites. The entrance to a Bank Swal¬ 
low’s burrow, whether new or old, is plugged up by a mud wall of conven¬ 
tional appearance, and this mud facing has the customary entrance 
hole of the Cliff Swallow; but behind the wall there is nothing but the 
lens-shaped chamber in the sand, as fashioned by the Bank Swallow. 
This was the usual style of composite nest; but one found by my son 
William presented a still more curious set of conditions. The mud 
plug, built some six inches inside the entrance, admitted to an empty 
chamber, while back of this was a similar partition, which, in turn, 
guarded a well-lined nest with three fresh eggs (June 28, 1913). 
Cliff Swallows have won a bad name as tenants, because their 
quarters are likely to be infested with bed-bugs, not, as it appears, 1 
the unwelcome troubler of human dreams, Acanihia (formerly Cimex ) 
lectuaria, but a related species, Acanihia hirundinis. It is not at all 
probable that this related bug would prey upon mankind, but the sug¬ 
gested association is an unpleasant one. Certainly the birds must 
suffer tortures from their insect persecutors, for I have seen whole colonies 
deserted, eggs and all, on this account. 
No. 104 
Rough-winged Swallow 
A. O. U. No. 617. Stelgidopteryx serripennis (Audubon). 
Description. — Adult: Upperparts warm brownish gray, or snuff-brown; breast 
and sides a paler tint of the same color, shading insensibly on borders; throat still 
paler, sooty gray (whitish in winter); wings fuscous. Young birds exhibit some rusty 
edging of the feathers above, especially on the wings; and lack the peculiar, recurved 
hooks on the edge of the outer primary. Size a little larger than the next. Length 
127-146.1 (5.00-5.75); wing 109.2 (4.30); tail 47 (1.85); bill from nostril 5.3 (.21). 
Recognition Marks. —Medium swallow size; throat not definitely white (near¬ 
est so in winter); warmish brown coloration, and brownish suffusion below fading to 
white on belly. It is easy to distinguish between this and the succeeding species if 
a little care is taken to note the general pattern of underparts. 
‘Mr. Edward R. Warren of Colorado Springs, Colo., has given this matter special study. See his excellent 
article in The Condor, Vol. XV., Jan., 1913, pp. 14-16. 
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