THE CHIMNEY SWIFT 



Swift Family — Micropodidce 



Length: About 5^ inches; wings nearly 5 inches long. 



General Appearance: In the sky, the swift looks unlike any 

 other bird. The wings are long and flap like those 

 of a mechanical toy-bird. The tail appears rounded, 

 not forked, like those of swallows. 



Male and Female: Brownish-gray, lighter gray on throat; a 

 black spot before each eye; wings longer than tail; 

 tail short, with ribs of the feathers extending beyond 

 the vanes, giving the effect of sharp needle- or pin- 

 points. The bird has a sooty appearance. 



Note: A noisy, incessant twitter. 



Flight: Rapid, and seemingly erratic and aimless. Swifts' 

 wings appear to beat the air alternately. The birds 

 move in great curves, seldom alight, and drop sud- 

 denly into chimneys at night or when they wish to 

 enter their nests. 



Nest: A wall-pocket, built of sticks glued together and to the 

 wall by a sticky saliva secreted by the swifts. Dur- 

 ing rainy weather the nest is sometimes loosened, and 

 falls. 



Eggs: White, like those of woodpeckers and some others laid 

 in dark places. 



Habitat: As swifts secure all of their food while on the wing 

 and seldom alight, they have no habitat except the 

 atmosphere and the hollow trees or chimneys in 

 which they congregate at night, and where they nest. 

 They do not perch on telegraph wires as swallows 

 like to do. 



Range: Breed in eastern North America, from southcentral 



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