BARKER. 



21 



hawking" for flies every hour of the day. A more marked instance 

 occurs in a colony of them established at the lime-kilns, Greenwich, 

 near the foot of Blackheath-hill, which is surrounded by streets ; and 

 along- these I have frequently seen parties of the Bank Swallow in 

 pursuit of their prey, though they certainly prefer a more distant 

 excursion to the Thames or the Ravensbourne, as those at Catrine do, 

 to skim the surface of the reservoirs and mill-streams in their vicinity. 

 Since writing- the above, I have observed a colony of Bank Swallows, 

 which still more strikingly confirms my position, at Dartford in Kent, 

 where they have not only made choice of the bank through which the 

 great public road from London to Dover has been cut, but have pre- 

 ferred the part of it nearest the town, some of their holes being within 

 a dozen yards of the end of the street, while I did not see a single 

 hole at the further end of the bank. The wildest locality in which I 

 have observed colonies of the Bank Swallow, was on the high cliffs 

 between Cape d'Antifer and La Heve, on the coast of Normandy ; but 

 I also repeatedly saw parties of half a dozen or more from these very co- 

 lonies hawking through the streets of the adjacent villages several miles 

 from their nests.* 1 



The birds of this, as well as the other species, have been supposed to 

 lie torpid in their holes all the winter ; and many fruitless attempts 

 have been made to discover them in that season by digging to the bottom 

 of those holes where they resort in summer. 



It is found in most parts of Europe, and is said to be common in 

 America, where it is called the ground swallow. * Wilson found them 

 numerous on the banks of the Ohio.* 



BARGANDER.— A name for the Shell Drake. 



BARKER (Totanusfuscus, Leisler.) 



Scolopax Totanus. Linn. Syst. 1. p. 254. \2.—Gmel. Syst. 2. p. 665.— Ind. Orn. 2. 

 p. 721. 24.— Totanus alter. Rati, Syn. p. 106. 11.— Will. p. 221 — lb. Angl. 

 p. 299.— T. fuscus, Temm. Man. 2. p. 639.— Leisl. Naturg. 2. p. 47. No.°2. 

 —Barker, Albin, 2. t. 71.— Spotted Redshank, Br. Zool. 2. No. 186.— Spotted 

 Snipe, Lath. Syn. 2. p. 148. 19.— Gen. Hist. 9. 239. 40.— Lewin, Br. Birds, 4. 

 t. 164.— Mont. Orn. Diet, and Supp.— Flem. Brit. Anim. 102. 



This species is about the size of the Greenshank. The head is of a 

 pale ash-colour, marked with oblong streaks of black : back dusky, 

 varied with triangular white spots ; wing coverts ash-coloured, spotted 

 in the same manner; quills dusky; breast, belly, and thighs, white ; 

 the first thinly spotted with black ; the middle feathers of the tail 

 ash-coloured, the side feathers whitish, barred with black; legs long, and 

 of a bright red. 



Architecture of Birds, p. 25. 



