The Bank Swallow 
No. 105 
Bank Swallow 
A. O. U. No. 616. Riparia riparia (Linmeus). 
Synonym.— Sand Martin. 
Description.— Adult: Upperparts plain brownish gray; wings fuscous; throat 
and belly white; a brownish gray band across the breast; a tiny tuft of feathers above 
the hind toe. There is some variation in the extent of the pectoral band; it is some¬ 
times produced indistinctly backward, and sometimes even interrupted. Length 
I27-I33-3 (5-00-5.25); wing 100.3 (3-95): tail 50 (1.97); bill from nostril 5.1 (.20). 
Recognition Marks. —Smallest of the Swallows; throat white; brownish gray 
pectoral band on white ground. 
Nesting.— Nest: At end of tunnel in bank, two or three feet in; a frail mat of 
straws and grasses, or, occasionally, feathers. Eggs: 4 to 6 (7 of record); pure white. 
Av. size 17.8 x 12.5 (.70 x .49). Season: May—June; one brood. 
General Range. —Northern Hemisphere. In America south to West Indies, 
Central America, and South America; breeding in the East about the latitude of Vir¬ 
ginia; and in the West from the southern border states northward to the limit of trees, 
winters in Brazil and (at least) Peru. 
Distribution in California. —A common migrant, practically throughout the 
State; rather rare as a breeder. Known colonies as follows: Alvord (A. K. Fisher); 
Placerville (Emerson); Paicines (J. & J. W. Mailliard); Oceanside (N. K. Carpenter); 
near Long Beach (J. Grinnell); Port Los Angeles (Shepardson); Whittier (Willett); 
Santa Barbara (Author); San Ardo (Author); Santa Cruz (Skirm). 
Authorities. — Gambel ( Cotyle riparia), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., iii., 1846, 
p. hi (Calif.); Cones , Birds Col. Val., 1878, p. 435 (syn., desc., etc.; see also p. 364); 
Judd, U. S. Dept. Agric., Biol. Surv. Bull., no. 17, 1902, p. 46, pi. ix., fig. 2 (food); 
Shepardson, Condor, vol. xi., 1909, p. 174 (breeding colonies in s. Calif.). 
THOSE who know, conceive a regard for this plain-colored bird 
which is quite out of keeping with its humble garb and its confessedly 
prosy ways. The fact is, we have no other bird, so nearly cosmopolitan, 
and we of the West, who are being eternally reminded of our newness, 
and who are, indeed, upon the alert for some new shade of color upon 
the feather of a bird for each added degree of longitude, take comfort 
in the fact that here at least is an unchangeable type, a visible link 
between Port Los Angeles and Florence on the Arno. Birds of precisely 
this feather are summering on the Lena, or else hawking at flies on the 
sunny Guadalquivir, or tunneling the sacred banks of the Jordan; and 
the flattery is not lost upon us of such as still prefer Weaver Creek and 
the San Benito. 
The life of a Swallow is so largely spent a-wing, that our interest 
in it centers, even more than in the case of other birds, upon the time 
when it is bound to earth by family ties. We are scarcely conscious 
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