BANK SWALLOW. 
SAND MARTIN. 
CUVICOLA RIPARIA. 
Char. Above, dull grayish brown, which extends around the neck and 
across the breast ; beneath, white. Length about 5 inches. 
Nest. At the end of a burrow excavated in a bank of sand or gravel, 
— usually within a few feet of the top ; the bank generally near a stream 
of water ; the excavation is 2 to 4 feet deep, and widens at the inner end, 
where a little dry grass and a few feathers are loosely placed, and on this 
cushion the eggs are laid. 
Eggs. 4-6 j white; 0.70 X 0.50. 
These plain-looking and smaller birds, though equally grega- 
rious with other kinds, do not court the protection or society 
of man, — at least their habitations are remote from his. They 
commonly take possession for this purpose of the sandy bank 
or bluff of a river, quarry, or gravel pit, 2 or 3 feet below the 
upper surface of the bank. In such places, in the month of 
.April, they may be observed burrowing horizontally with their 
awl-like bills, when at length, having obtained a foot-hold in 
the cliff, they also use their feet and continue this labor to the 
depth of 2 or 3 feet. Many of these holes may be often seen 
within a few inches of each other. This species has gener- 
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