. The Auk. Birds. Malformed bill of Rose-breasted Grosbeak Breeding of the Rough-winged Swallow in Berkshire County, Mas- sachusetts.—-On July 3, 1906, as I was waiting for a train at the railroad station in Glendale, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, I saw a pair of Rough-winged Swallows flying back and forth over the Housatonic River. Skimming just above the surface of the rapidly flowing water they passed and repassed the station very many times, giving me excellent opportuni- ties for making out their characteristic coloring and markings. Once they alighted on a large, flat-topped boulder a
. The Auk. Birds. Malformed bill of Rose-breasted Grosbeak Breeding of the Rough-winged Swallow in Berkshire County, Mas- sachusetts.—-On July 3, 1906, as I was waiting for a train at the railroad station in Glendale, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, I saw a pair of Rough-winged Swallows flying back and forth over the Housatonic River. Skimming just above the surface of the rapidly flowing water they passed and repassed the station very many times, giving me excellent opportuni- ties for making out their characteristic coloring and markings. Once they alighted on a large, flat-topped boulder at the water's edge where they moved about by a succession of short, quick runs, reminding me of Semipalmated Plover feeding on a sand beach. I have never before seen swallows of any kind move so quickly by the aid of their feet alone. After drinking at a pool of rain water which had collected in a hollow in the rock, these birds took wing again and resumed their regular, coursing flights. They frequently passed under a bridge by which the road from the vil- lage to the station crosses the river, and twice they turned sharply upwards and disappeared for a moment among its supporting rafters, which were twenty-five or thirty feet above the water. Suspecting that they might have a nest there I went out on the bridge, but I could not well see under it. On a telephone wire stretched across the river near the bridge I found, however, three young Rough-winged Swallows, fully grown and feathered, clamoring loudly for food, which their parents brought to them every few minutes. I had a fine view of these young birds, for they were perched in full sunlight within ten or twelve yards of me. Probably. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original American Ornithologists' Union. Washington, D. C. : American Ornitholo
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1884
