UP THE CHIMNEY. 



^5 



from below, he had come down backward, hovering and flutter- 

 ing until, head toward the light, his tiny feet had caught in the 

 mortar and every spine in his very brief tail had been braced 

 against the same rough substance. Perfectly motionless, he 

 clung to the black wall as a tree toad sticks to a tree trunk. His 

 flat head, tiny beak, sooty brown coat, shining in the glare from 

 the sky, did not combine well into a bird ; in fact, nothing in 

 their weird surroundings made these tenants seem akin to birds. 

 They were more like bats. 



Outside, the hot sunlight and hazy blue sky of early July 

 hung over wood and meadow, lake and distant mountain. But- 

 terflies fluttered and drifted in aimless flight over the sumacs, a 

 humming bird buzzed in the deep blue larkspur flowers, barn 

 swallows cut fanciful curves over the lake and back to their nest 

 with its nestlings; while down in the shadowy fern land the 

 veery's tremulous music told of coolness and comfort. How dif- 

 ferent this soot lined tube of brick, leading down through ever- 

 darkening gloom into an unknown abyss of blackness and silence I 

 How strange that this keen-eyed swift, which a moment ago was 

 speeding through highest ether at a rate which no other bird can 

 equal and maintain, should come back into this pit and call it his 

 home ! He spoke again, and once more the heavy air of the 

 chimney responded to his whirring wings, as he dropped a little 

 lower to the level of the nest, and turned his bright eyes inquir- 

 ingly toward his mate. Her wings now moved, and she lifted 

 herself away from the frail platform of glued twigs and stuck 

 against the bricks a few feet distant. The male, raising his wings 

 and keeping them moving, walked flylike to the nest and settled 

 upon it. Instead of facing directly toward the north wall, he sat 

 upon the nest at a different angle, so that his forked wings pro- 

 jected obliquely from the nest's edge. A moment later the female 

 made the air throb and boom to her powerful flight as she flew 

 toward and into the light. 



Twenty minutes passed ; the bird on the nest was restless, and 

 squirmed in a way which suggested physical discomfort. Then 

 he gave a low call ; and a moment later darkness, hurried notes, 

 and the fluttering of strong wings announced the mother-bird's 

 return. She dropped down backward until close beside the nest, 

 struck and clung to the bricks, and then, using her feet almost as 

 well as though on level ground, gained the nest and pushed her 

 way upon it, fairly forcing off her mate, who seemed to have no 

 inclination to depart. Finally he moved, and, after a series of 

 short upward flights, regained the sunlight, and was seen no 

 more for three quarters of an hour. As the female settled herself 

 upon the nest, a faint " cheeping " suggested that tiny life was 

 stirring beneath her breast. Her position was the same which 



