CHIMNEY SWIFT OR SWALLOW. 609 



and bifid at tip. Feet very short, toes divided, hind toe shortest, versa- 

 tile, generally directed forward ; nails retractile, channeled beneath. 

 Wings extremely long, 1st primary a little shorter than the 2d, which 

 is longest. Tail of 10 feathers. 



The sexes and young nearly alike in plumage ; with the moult 

 annual. The Swifts |live still more in the air than the Swallows, 

 generally flying at great elevations ; they flap their wings only at in- 

 tervals, and appear as if sailing in the atmosphere in wide circles. 

 They are rarely seen at rest, and then upon elevated places, but nev- 

 er on the ground. They make their nests in the clefts of rocks, in 

 ruins, and in chimneys, some choosing a plane surface on which to 

 rest the fabric ; in others the materials are perpendicularly aggluti- 

 nated. The foreign species employ soft substances for the nest, 

 often pilfered from the Sparrow. In ours, twigs only are used ; in 

 either, the materials are attached together by a viscous substance 

 secreted from the stomach of the bird, which acquires hardness and 

 consistence in drying. They pass the greater part of the day in 

 their roosting-places. The eggs, 2 to 4, are spotless, and white. Spe- 

 cies are spread over the whole globe. 



CHIMNEY SWIFT or SWALLOW. 



{Cypselus pelasgius, Temm. Hirurido pelasgia, Wilson, v. p. 48- 

 pl. 39. fig. 1. Phil. Museum, No. 7663.) 



Sp. Charact. — Sooty -brown ; chin and line over the eye dull whit- 

 ish ; wings extending far beyond the tail ; tail even, with the 

 feathers mucronate. 



This singular bird, after passing the winter in tropical 

 America, arrives in the Middle and Northern States late 

 in April or early in May. Their migrations extend, at 

 least, to the sources of the Mississippi, where they were 

 observed by Mr. Say. More social than the foreign spe- 

 cies, which frequent rocks and ruins, our Swift takes ad- 

 vantage of unoccupied and lofty chimneys, their original 

 roost and nesting situation being tall gigantic hollow 

 trees, such as the elm and button-wood {Platanus). The 

 nest is formed of slender twigs, neatly interlaced, some- 

 what like a basket, and connected sufficiently together 



