BANK SWALLOW, OR SAND MARTIN. j^i 



middle ones, and all of a uniform brown black ; lores, black ; 

 whole lower parts pure white ; wings, when shut, extend 

 about a quarter of an inch beyond the tail ; legs, naked, short, 

 and strong, and, as well as the feet, of a dark purplish flesh 

 colour ; claws, stout. 



• The female has much less of the greenish gloss than the 

 male, the colours being less brilliant ; otherwise alike. 



BANK SWALLOW, OR SAND MARTIN. 



(Hirundo riparia.) 



PLATE XXXVIII.— Fig. 4. 



Lath. Sim. iv. p. 568, 10.— A ret. Zool. ii. No. 332.— L'Hirondelle de rivage, Buff. 

 vi. 632. PI. enl. 543, f. 2.— Turt. Syst. 629.— Peale's Museum, No. 7637. 



HIRUNDO? RIPARIA ?— Linnaeus.* 

 Hirundo riparia, Bonap. Synop. p. 65. — Cotile riparia, Boje. 



This appears to be the most sociable with its kind, and the 

 least intimate with man, of all our swallows, living together 

 in large communities of sometimes three or four hundred. 



* I have been unable to compare specimens of these birds from both 

 countries, but from the best authorities, I am 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 

 breeding-places are in the same situations, but often pierced into the 

 banks for a much greater length. If the bank is sandy and easily 

 scratched, seven or eight feet will scarcely reach the extremity, a won- 

 derful 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 

 Superior." — Ed.. ...... 



