SWALLOWS: BANK SWALLOW 
457 
on telephone wires during the migrations. For Mr. Henshaw says, 
“As is the habit with swallows generally, Tree Swallows migrate by day, 
feeding as they go, and a flock passing swiftly south presents to the 
casual observer an every day appearance well calculated to deceive. 
Watch the flock as it crosses the road and passes from field to field and 
you will notice that while the line of flight has many a twist and turn 
it trends steadily to the south, and that no individual takes the back 
track” (1918, p. 30). 
Additional Literature.—Chapman, F. M., Bird Studies with a Camera, 89- 
105, 1900.— Miller, O. T., Little Brothers of the Air, 65-68, 1892 (training the 
young).— Whittle, C. L., Auk, XLIII, 247-248, 1926 (nesting).— Wright, M. O., 
Educational Leaflet 33, Nat. Assoc. Audubon Soc. 
BANK SWALLOW: Riparia riparia riparia (Linnaeus) 
Description. — Length: 4.7-5.5 inches, wing 3.7-4.2, tail 2.1-2.2. Bill very 
small, tail emarginate, leg with a tuft of feathers near insertion of hind toe. Adults: 
U pperparls grayish brown , darkest on head and wings; under parts white with a broad 
sooty brown band across chest and sides. Young: Similar, 
but rump and wings with brownish buff edgings, and chest 
band with paler tips, throat often speckled and under¬ 
parts sometimes tinged with brown. 
Range. —In North America breeds in Boreal, Transition, 
and Austral Zones from near the limit of trees in northern 
Alaska and northern Ungava south to Virginia, Louisiana, 
Texas, Arizona (rarely), and southern California; migrates 
through Mexico and Central America (casually West 
Indies), and winters in South America in Brazil and Peru. 
State Records. —The records of the Bank Swallow in New Mexico are in a very 
unsatisfactory condition. One was taken near Carlsbad, September 3,1901 (Bailey); 
and one at Mesilla in July, 1913, while others were seen in the Burro Mountains in 
June, 1916 (Merrill); but most of the records of the Bank Swallow belong really to the 
Rough-wing, and it. seems probable that the Rough-wing is more common in New 
Mexico than the Bank. [Jensen, however, reports a large colony of Bank Swallows 
nesting in Santa Clara Canyon in the Jemez Mountains (1922). Ligon has found 
nests along the Verde River in Arizona, and also on the Pecos River in Texas just 
outside the State, and feels confident that nests will be found on the Pecos in New 
Mexico (1916-1918).!—W. W. Cooke. 
Nest. —In horizontal holes or burrows, excavated in sand banks, cuts, and banks 
of streams. Eggs: 3 to 6, white. 
Food. —Practically wholly insects, with a few spiders. Among other insects are 
the rice weevils (destructive to stored grain), cotton boll weevils, alfalfa weevils, flea 
beetles (injurious to garden truck), winged ants, leaf and tree hoppers, plant lice, and 
May flies. About a quarter of the food consists of houseflies and craneflies. 
General Habits. —The dingy little Bank Swallow with the dark 
chest band, like other swallows nests in colonies, but unlike them 
excavates burrows in cut banks or river banks in which to safely rear 
its family. Sometimes, even here, its young are threatened by a 
strange enemy, a badger, which digs down to the burrows from above. 
Fig. 77. Bank Swallow 
