THE CHIMNEY SWIFT 



Canada to the Gulf, and westward to the Plains; 

 winter south of the United States. 



SWIFTS have often been called "Chimney Swallows," 

 but the name is a misnomer; they belong to an en- 

 tirely different family. The breadth of wing and rapid 

 flight, the weak feet and broad bills are, however, points 

 of resemblance; the sooty appearance and lack of beauti- 

 ful luster of plumage are points of difference. Then, too, 

 swifts' tails are less like swallows' tails than they are like 

 those of woodpeckers and creepers; the spiny tips are used 

 as props against a perpendicular surface. 



The following facts concerning swifts are taken from 

 Eaton's "Birds of New York": 



"Nearly every village or city [in New York State] can 

 boast at least one large chimney or church or schoolhouse 

 that harbors multitudes of swifts every night late in sum- 

 mer. It is an interesting sight to watch these swifts as 

 they wheel about such a chimney in the August and Sep- 

 tember evenings and, when the magic moment arrives, 

 pour down its capacious mouth in a living cascade. It 

 seems impossible for this species to perch, but it always 

 alights on some perpendicular surface like the inside of 

 a large hollow tree or the inner surface of a chimney or 

 the perpendicular boards at the gable end of a barn or 

 shed. In this position it sleeps, clinging with its sharp 

 claws to the irregular surface and using its spiny tail as a 

 support. The swift is seen abroad early in the morning 

 and late in the afternoon, but in cloudy weather comes out 

 at any time of day and evidently can see well in the bright 

 sunlight, for it frequently hunts material for its nest dur- 

 ing the brightest weather. They begin to construct the nest 



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