348 BIRDS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



branch with the end in the swallow's grasp. These they glue 

 to the side of the flue with their saliva, to form the frame 

 work of their nest, which is placed four or five feet from the 

 top. In this rude basket-work their eggs are laid without the 

 semblance of a lining. They are white, and from four to six 

 in number. In wet weather these nests are often dislodged, 

 and come down with the young in them ; sometimes the young- 

 fall out of the nest. In either case, they scramble up the 

 chimney and support themselves with their claws and their 

 tail, till they are able to fly, in a place near the mouth of the 

 flue, whore the parent can conveniently feed them. Before 

 the end of the summer they all disappear, leaving us earlier 

 than other swallows, because they have a greater distance 

 to go. 



The Whippoorwill, caprimulgtis vociferus, is not often 

 seen, because compelled by its delicate sense of vision, to re- 

 treat into the forests, to escape the blaze of day ; but every one 

 knows its wild and melancholy song, which, M^hen it first ar- 

 rives, is heard frcm the distant woods, but comes nearer as the 

 season advances, and at last is heard very near the dwellings 

 of men. The song of birds is always expressive of happiness ; 

 but the complaining notes of the whippoorwill seem to indicate 

 suffering, and create a sympathy in the hearer, which the case 

 of the bird does not call for ; since all this while, it is collect- 

 ing moths, beetles, ants and grasshoppers ; and instead of fore- 

 boding change and disaster, it is employed advantageously for 

 us, and no doubt to its own satisfaction, in destroying insects 

 that trouble the repose of the cattle. The barn-yard affords it 

 a foraging ground, which it often visits ; sometimes it takes its 

 station on the step of the house door, not chasing its prey on 

 the wing, like the night hawk, but waiting till insects pass by; 

 when they appear, it rises to snatch them, and then resumes its 

 position, and proceeds with its song. 



Tht nest of the whippoorwill, if it can be said to have any, 

 is a mere hollow place in the ground, in some retired part of 

 the woods. The eggs, bluish white, with blotches of dark 



