BANK SWALLOW. 
425 
Ohio, they congregate in immense multitudes. We have some - 
times several days of cold rain and severe \veather after their ar- 
rival in spring, from which they take refuge in their holes, 
clustering together for warmth, and have been frequently found 
at such times in almost a lifeless state with the cold; which cir- 
cumstance has contributed to the belief that they lie torpid all 
winter in these recesses. I have searched hundreds of these holes 
in the months of December and January, but never found a single 
Swallow, dead, living, or torpid. I met with this bird in con- 
siderable numbers on the shores of the Kentucky river, be- 
tween Lexington and Danville. They likewise visit the sea 
shore, in great numbers, previous to their departure, which con- 
tinues from the last of September to the middle of October. 
The Bank Swallow is five inches long, and ten inches in ex- 
tent; upper parts mouse coloured, lower white, with a band of 
dusky brownish across the upper part of the breast; tail forked, 
the exterior feather slightly edged vyith whitish; lores and bill 
black; legs with a few tufts of downy feathers behind; claws 
fine pointed and very sharp; over the eye a streak of whitish; 
lower side of the shafts white; wings and tail darker than the 
body. The female differs very little from the male. 
This bird appears to be in nothing diffei’ent from the Euro- 
pean species; from which circumstance, and its early arrival 
here, I would conjecture that it passes to a high northern lati- 
tude on both continents. 
VOL. II. — 3 H 
