BANK SWALLOW, OR SAND MARTIN. 
141 
form the bed on which their eggs, generally five in number, 
and pure white, are deposited. The young are hatched late 
in May; and here I have taken notice of the common Crow, 
in parties of four or five, watching at the entrance of these 
holes, to seize the first straggling young that should make its 
appearance. From the clouds of Swallows that usually play 
round these breeding places, they remind one at a distance of 
a swarm of bees. 
The Bank Swallow arrives here earlier than either of the 
preceding; begins to build in April, and has commonly two 
broods in the season. Their voice is a low mutter. They are 
particularly fond of the shores of rivers, and, in several places 
along the Ohio, they congregate in immense multitudes. 
We have sometimes several days of cold rain and severe 
weather after their arrival 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 circumstance 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 considerable 
numbers on the shores of the Kentucky river, between 
Lexington and Danville. They likewise visit the sea shore, 
in great numbers, previous to their departure, which continues 
from the last of September to the middle of October. 
The Bank Swallow is five inches long, and ten inches in 
extent; 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 with 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 different from the 
