52 Trans. Acad. Sci. of St. Louis 



in the safest place jiossible, no enemy being able to reach 

 it and it was hard work for an axe to get at it from the 

 skifT in wliirh wc were. 



It is a remarkable coincidence in their domestic affairs 

 that in sjjite of the great dilTcrence in anatomical struc- 

 ture and therefore distant relationship, the Cliimney 

 Swift has one important trait with the Swallows and that 

 is the readiness with which it modifies its way of nesting 

 according to circumstances. Of the seven s]>ecies of 

 Swallows which wo have in North iVmerica six have 

 almost completely changed their modes of nidification, 

 breeding now in convenient places offered by buildings, 

 or in houses expressly provided for their use. It may be 

 presumed tliat in consequence of this change of nidifica- 

 tion Swallows have increased in numbers of individuals 

 with the settlement of the countrv or civilization, as we 

 are pleased to call it, but it is a positively known and 

 easily explained fact that the Swifts have not only be- 

 come much more numerous in all populous parts of the 

 Eastern United States, but have extended and are still 

 extending their breeding range into the treeless regions 

 of the West, following the building of human habitations 

 on the Great Plains which foiiiierly had to be avoided 

 for want of nesting sites. The present distribution of the 

 Chimney Swifts is a large one ; it breeds in all the Eastern 

 United States, from the Atlantic to the (Jreat Plains 

 and from about 50^ latitude in tlie soutliern ]irovinces of 

 Canada to southern Florida and southeastern Texas. 

 Reports of its occurrence in this large ar(>a are so evenly 

 and thickly spread that we cannot help to assume that in 

 numbers of individuals the Swift suqiasses the six spe- 

 cies of Swallows of the Eastern T^nited States ]nit 

 together, but, strange to say. its winter home is not 

 known. A few Chimney Swifts have been taken in migra- 

 tion at Vera Cruz and in Yucatan (Cozumel Island), but 

 it is a known fact that when the last Swift has left the 

 United States at the end of October the species has 



