BIRDS HIRUNDINIDAE — COTYLE SERRIPENNIS. 
313 
COTYLE RIPAEIA, Boie. 
Bank Swallow. 
Hirundo riparia, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. I, 17C6, 344. — Wilson, Am. Orn. V, 46 ; pi. xxxviii. — Audubon, Orn Biog. 
IV, 1838, 584 ; pi. 385.— Ib. Syn. 1839.— lis. Birds Am. I, 1840, 187 ; pi. 50. 
Cotyle riparia, Boie, Isis, 1822, 550.— Bon. List, 1838.— Cassin, Illust. I, 1855, 247.— Brewer, N. Am. Ool. I, 1857, 
105 ; pi. iv. fig. 49, (egg.) 
"Hirundo cinerea, Vieillot, Nouv. Diet. XIV, 1817, 526." 
Sp. Ch. — Smallest of American swallows. Tail slightly emarginate. Outer web of first primary soft, without hooks. Lower 
part of the tarsus with a few scattered feathers. Above grayish brown, somewhat fuliginous, with a tendency to paler margins 
to the feathers. Beneath pure white, with a band across the breast and sides of the body like the back. Length, 4.75 ; wing, 
4. 0 ; tail, 2.00. 
Hah. — North America generally. 
A specimen collected by Dr. Heerrnann in the Sacramento valley is rather smaller than Penn- 
sylvania ones, and the brown band across the throat is broader and more continuous. Skins 
from the Upper Missouri are rather larger than from either side of the continent, and the colors 
purer and more continuous ; the tail and wing feathers without the white edging. 
The young of the year are not conspicuously different from the adults, save in the greater 
amount of light edging to the feathers on the back. The tail is less emarginate. 
This species is supposed by most authors to be identical with the European bank swallow, 
careful comparisons having hitherto failed to exhibit any tangible difference. It furnishes 
almost a solitary instance, among land birds, of the same species inhabiting both continents 
permanently, and not as an accidental or occasional visitor on either. 
List of specimens. 
Catal. 
' No. 
1692 
1165 
1124 
5209 
5210 
Sex. 
Locality. 
When col- 
lected. 
Whence obtained. 
Orig. 
No. 
Collected by— 
Length. 
Stretch 
of wings. 
Wing. 
Remarks. 
3 
Q 
"q 
Aug. 30,184! 
Aug. 22,1844 
July 18,1843 
Aug. —,1850 
July 23,185G 
4.75 
4.67 
4.83 
5.00 
5.12 
4.75 
10.83 
10.67 
10.42 
11.25 
10.12 
8.50 
4.00 
3.83 
3.83 
4.00 
3.37 
Yellowstone R.,N.T 
Lt. G. K. Warren 
do 
Dr. Hayden 
Eyes black 
Eyes black; inside 
of mouth yellow.. 
5597 
6030 
9 
3 
June 13,1856 
24 
I.t. Williamson 
1 
COTYLE SERRIPENNIS, Bonap . 
Rough-winged SwalloAV. 
Hirundo serripennis, Aud. Orn. Bi g. IV, 1838, 593.— . Birds America, I, 1840, 193 ; pi. 51. 
Cotyle serripennis, Bonap. Consp. 1850, 342.— Cassin, Illust. I, 1855, 247.— Brewer, N. Am. Oology, I, 1857, 
106 ; pi. iv, fig. 50, (egg.) 
Sp. Ch. — Tail slightly emarginate ; first primary with the pennulae of the outer web much stiffened, witli their free extremities 
recurved into a hook very appreciable to the touch. No feathers on the tarsus and toes. Above rather light sooty brown, 
beneath whitish gray, or light brownish ash, becoming nearly pure white in the middle of the belly and on the under tail 
coverts. Length, 4.50; wing, 4.28 ; tail, 2.23. 
Hab. — United States from Atlantic to Pacific. 
Specimens vary in having the belly of a purer white, and in the greater or less intensity of 
the ashy brown of the throat and breast. 
40 b 
