Plate LX. 
Fig. 2. STELGIDOPTERYX SERRIPENNIS-Rough-voinged Swallow. 
The Rough-winged Swallow arrives and departs about the same time as the preceding species. It 
rears two broods each year, the first set of eggs being hatched in May, the second set in July. 
LOCALITY : 
In the early history of this country the nest of the Rough-winged Swallow was built in clayey and 
sandy banks along rivers, creeks, and other bodies of water, and also in crevices in rocky cliffs border- 
ing streams, or even at considerable distance from water. At the present time the majority of these 
birds still cling to the nesting habits of their ancestors, but there are some that have succumbed to the 
influence of man and seem to have acquired new tastes under their new surroundings. The following from 
the pen of Dr. J. M. Wheaton, of Columbus, well describes some of the modern nesting sites: “With 
us, although the greater number are found within the vicinity of water, the Rough-winged Swallow is a 
bird of general distribution. It was first detected in this State by Dr. Kirtland, who found them abun- 
dant and nesting in the banks of Rocky River, near his residence. In 1861, I found it common in the 
vicinity of Columbus, and discovered its nest on a beam under a low bridge. Since then, they appear 
to be increasing in numbers, at least in the city. They nest abundantly in the banks of rivers and 
creeks, and in gravel pits, where they excavate holes, larger, but not so deep as the holes of the Bank 
Swallow. They generally choose a spot where excavation is easy, an isolated pair often removing a de- 
cayed root ; small colonies generally excavate their holes between a layer of loam and one of sand, in 
such a manner that the loam forms the roof and the sand the floor of the excavation. . . . Their 
nests are often in the cracks of rocks of stone-quarries, and very frequently in the crevices of the piers 
and abutments of bridges, the foundation of mills, and other masonry. In the city they frequently place 
their nests in the most frequented places. A pair nested for several successive years not more than 
thirty feet from the principal business street of this city, occupying a pudlock hole in a brick building 
about ten feet from the ground, and below the windows of a telegraph office. Another pair nested in an 
alley in a hole in a brick wall under a door in the second story, through which goods were daily raised 
and lowered by a hoist. They also build on the projecting caps of the large pillars in the portico of the 
State House.” 
POSITION : 
The burrow in which the nest is built, when the Swallows do their own excavating, is seldom above ten 
feet from the surface of the water, and often much nearer. The majority of nests along the Scioto River 
and its tributary branches are in low clayey banks within five feet of the water. The burrow enters 
nearly horizontally to a depth of two or three feet and then enlarges into a room with low ceiling. When 
masonry or a rock-quarry is the selected locality the nest is situated in a crevice, sometimes but a few 
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