Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-07-22
The Bank Swallow,

BANK SWALLOWS are familiar to all who
! walk IN green pastures and besid. still
waters. They are the only swallow which
has not attached itself to humanity a. soon
as it had opportunity, and changed from
a savage to civilized bird. 1t is at p,esent
an inhabitant of all Europe and eastward
to China, of large part Of Africa, espe-
cially N winter, and throughout North
America, the West Indies, Central Ameri-
Ca and the Northern Andean countries
On both continents its wanderings extend
to the extreme North, where in Alaska it
is one Of the commonest summer visitors.
It is one Of the earliest birds to arrive in
the spring, appearing in cid England dur
ing the last week in March, and IN New
England early in May, many passing on
Richardson, at the mouth of the Macken.
Zie, and Dali, on the Tukon, found them
breeding in immense numbers. Where
these and other swallows spend the win
ter was hotly-debated question among
ornithologists at the beginning of the pres
ent century, some believing that they mi
grated with the sun, while others, deeming
it impossible that such small and delicate
birds could endure the great fatigue and
temperatures incident to such migration,
held that they regularly hibernated during
the cold weather, sinking into the mud st
the bottom of ponds, like frogs, or curling
up IN deep, warm crannies, like bats, and
remaining torpid until revived by the
warmth Of spring. Of this latter opinion
was White, of Selborne, who alludes to it
again and again, and Sir Thomas Forster
wrote a Monograph of British SwaI-
lows" apparently with no other object
than to present the arguments for and
against the theory of their annual submer-
sion and torpidity. One of the difficulties
which the subnaersi0n5sts put in the way of
the m5gratlonlsts was the frequent acct
dental and isolated appearance of the swal-
low before its usual time-a fact which
has occasioned a proVerb in almost every
'nguage that " One saca!loao doth not make
u $llmnaer' The story is well known of a
thin brass plate having been fixed On a
swallow with this inscription: "Prithee,
swallow, whittier goest thou in wintel?''
The bird returned next spring with the
answer subjoined: "To Anthony, of
Athens Why dost thou inquire?'
Their fight is rapid but unsteady, with
odd Jerks and vacillations not unlike the
motion of butterfly. They are constant
ly on the wing, skimming low over land
and lock, pausing not even to drink or
battle, but simply dropping into some
limpid lake as they sip taste of water or
cleanse their dirty coats The bank swal-
low is not a musical bird nor is it hand
some bird; simply sooty-brown above,
white beneath, with brown breast. To
its grace Of motion and charming home
life we attribute that in it which attracts
US so much
The.secret of the local distribution OF
the bank swallows lies in the presence or
absence of vertical exposures of soil suit
able for them to penetrate for the burrows,
at the inner end of which the nest is
placed. Firm sand, with no admixture of
pebbles, is preferred, and in such an expos
ure, be it sea-shore, river bank, sand-pit,
OF railway cutting, the face will be fairly
honey-combed with burrows, so that we
can readily believe that Mr.. Dali counted
over 700 holes in one bluff in Alaska,
These are usually very close together, and
the wonder is how the birds can distin-
guish their own doors. If mistakes do
occur, imagine they every polite about
it, for I know of no more peaceable bird
than they.-Pop,lZar Science Aontt!y,