299 | BIRDS—HIRUNDINIDA. 
of the Barn Swallow, and the spots and blotches of reddish-brown, are 
larger. Two broods are usually raised in a season. 
GENUS COTYLE. Boie. 
Bill small; nostrils lateral, overhung by a straight-edged membrane. Tarsus about 
equal to middle toe without claw; feathered at upper end, especially on inner face, and 
having also a small tuft of feathers attached to posterior edge near the hind toe. Mid- 
dle toe with basal joint adherent externally to near the end, half way internally; the — 
claws comparatively little curved, the lateral reaching beyond the base of the middle. 
Tail slightly forked. 
CoTyLE RIPARIA (L.) Bole. 
Bank Swallow; Sand Martin. 
Hirundo riparia, KYRTLAND, Ohio Geolog. Pare 1838, 162.—ReEaD, Proc. Philad. Acad. 
Nat. Sci, vi, 1853, 395. 
— Coty ee KIRKPATRICK, Ohio Farmer, viii, 1859, 283.—WHEATON, Ohio Agri. Rep. 
for 1860, 364; Reprint, 1861, 6; Food of Birds, etc., Ohio Agric. Rep. for 1874, 565; 
Reprint, 1875, 5—LANGDON, Cat. Birds of Cin., 1877, 7; Revised List, Jour. Cin. 
Soc. Nat. Hist., 1, 1879, 173; Reprint, 7. 
Hirundo riparia, LINNAUS, Syst. Nat., 1, 10th ed., 1758, 192. 
Cotyle riparia, Born, Isis., 1826, —. 
Lustreless gray, with a pectoral band of the same; other under parts white. Sexes 
exactly alike. Young similar, the feathers often skirted with aa or whitish. Length 
44-48; wing 32-4; tail 2. 
Habitat, Europe, Asia, Africa, America. 
Rather common summer resident. Breeds. Arrives about the middle 
of April and remains until the first of September. In the immediate 
vicinity of Columbus the Bank Swallow is now but a migrant, but form- 
erly it was a common resident. This is probably due in part to the 
increase in numbers of the next species, but largely to the want of suit- 
able breeding places. Formerly our rivers ran here and there between 
more or less steep loamy banks, which remained comparatively un- 
changed from year to year, but as the country became more densely in- 
habited, and the forests cleared away, the streams were subject to more 
sudden freshets. While these freshets seldom occurred during the breed- 
ing season of these birds, yet during their absence in the colder portion 
of the year, the site of their former habitation often became entirely 
removed. They seem also to have forsaken the gravel pits in which 
they were accustomed to nest, because they were an unsafe residence, 
the layer of fine loam and sand in which they preferred to dig their holes 
being too frequently removed. On their spring migrations they linger 
lovingly about their old homes, as if reluctant to leave the spot which 
their traditions invest with so much interest. 
