Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/553

BANK SWALLOW. dusky band across the breast; the beak is very small and weak, and the tail short and not deep- ly forked. This swallow is migratory in the temperate zone, where it spreads in summer to the borders of the Arctic Ocean, and retires in winter not only in the tropics, but beyond them to the southern parts of South America and Africa, hut its alleged breeding there is probably erroneous, arising from confusion with local resident species. Everywhere it is of local dis- tribution, seeking the borders of water-courses and lakes where steep banks of sandy earth afford it a chance to dig holes, which it does in companies sometimes numbering hundreds of pairs, whose homes are often crowded within a small space. The nests are placed at the inner ends of deep burrows, each made by a pair of birds. In excavating the feet seem to be the principal instruments, scratching away the soil, and scraping it out backward to the mouth of the hole, until the required calibre and depth are attained. Both sexes work at the task dili- gently, and the hole is sometimes 7 or 8 feet in depth — a wonderful achievement for a bird so weak and ill-provided with digging tools. The scene when a twittering colony of swallows are busy at work upon the face of a sandbank is a most pleasing one, and the labor is often inter- rupted by sudden excursions of the whole flock, as if for simultaneous rest and recreation — "sailing and circling round ... making, when the sky is blue and the sun bright, a warm and delicious picture, such as the Greeks must have loved to gaze on." Excellent and picturesque accounts of the bird and its ways abound in the literature of ornithology, but none is more pleas- ing and instructive than that by Edmund Selous, in Bird Watching (London, 1901). At the in- terior extremity of the burrow an enlargement is made for the accommodation of a slight nest of straw and feathers, where from three to five pure white eggs are laid. The males roost at night, and often rest by day in the entrances to their tunnels: and there the young may be seen peering out some days before they dare to try their wings. Small hawks swoop upon the colo- nies and seize one from time to time. English sparrows often take possession of the holes, drag- ging out the property of the rightful owners and substituting their own; and snakes and mice occasionally gain entrance; but against most enemies these birds are well protected in their deep caves. A swallow of similar nesting habits, hut otherwise quite different, is the Rough- winged (q.v.). Consult Ingersoll, Wild Life of Orchard and Field (New York, 1902). See Swallow and Plate of Swallows.

BANN. A river in Ireland, rising in (he southern part of Downshire. It flows northwest, passing through Lough Neagh at its southwestern end, then passes between the counties of Londonderry and Antrim, and falls into the Atlantic at Portstewart. The part of the river south of Lough Neagh is called the Upper Bann, and has a length of 2.5 miles, while the Lower Bann, or the part north of Lough Neagh, is about 40 miles long. The Bann is navigable for light vessels, and has salmon fisheries.

BANNATYNE (ban'a-tin) CLUB. A club founded in 1823 by Sir Walter Scott, who was its first president, and by other Scottish antiquarians, for the purpose of collecting and publishing all history and literature connected with their country. It was named after a Sixteenth Century collector of Scottish poetry, and was discontinued in 1859. During its existence, it printed 116 rare works in editions of 100 copies each, which were distributed among the members. A full set of these works brought £235 in 1887.

BAN'NEKER, (1731-1806). A negro mathematician. He was a native of Maryland, and was a protégé of Thomas Jefferson. His grandmother, an Englishwoman, taught him to lead and write; and after his fiftieth year he began to study mathematics with special reference to astronomy. In 1792 he issued an almanac of his own making, and continued the series annually throughout his life. He assisted in fixing the boundary lines of the District of Columbia, and in laying out the city of Washington. For his biography consult Latrobe (Philadelphia, 1848), and Morris (Baltimore, 1854).

BAN'NER (OF. banere, baniere, Fr. bannière, bandière, Low Lat. baneria, banderia, from bandum, standard; cf. Goth. bandwca, sign, token, OHG. bant, band). Strictly, a kind of flag painted or embroidered with arms, and of a size proportioned to the rank of its bearer; often fringed with the principal metal and color of the arms. The chief distinction between banners and other flags, such as standards, pennons, etc., is that it is square, or nearly so, while the others, are, as a rule, elongated. See ; ;.

BAN'NERET (OF. baneret, banneret, from banere, banner). A knight entitled to display a banner, as distinguished from a pennon. The honor was originally gained in feudal times by bringing a certain number of soldiers into the field, but later became the reward of heroic acts performed in the face of the enemy. The first banneret in England is said by Froissart to have been made by King Edward I., and the last bestowal of the honor was by Charles I., after the battle of Edgehill, the recipient being John Smith, who had recovered the royal standard from the insurgents, although there are three doubtful instances in the Eighteenth Century. The ceremony of the creation of a knight-banneret must have been very impressive to persons filled with the ideas which were prevalent in the ages of chivalry. The King, or his general, at the head of his army, drawn up in order of battle, after a victory, under the royal banner displayed, attended by all the officers and nobility of the Court, received the banneret-elect, who was not necessarily a knight previously, led between two knights of note or other men famous in arms, carrying his pennon in his hand, the heralds walking before him and proclaiming his valiant achievements, for which he deserved to be made a knight-banneret, and to display his banner in the field. The King, or general," then said to him; "Advance, banneret!" and cut off the point of his pennon, thus altering its shape to that of a banner (q.v.). The new knight, with the trumpeters sounding before him and the nobility and officers bearing him company, was sent back to his tent, where a noble entertainment was provided by the King. The word has also been applied to certain inferior magistrates in Switzerland and Italy.

BAN'NOCK (Gæl. bonnach, bannach). A cake of home-made bread, common in the country