CHIMNEY SWIFT 211 



England and New York the Swift still builds occasionally 

 in hollow trees, as all its ancestors once did, or " on the 

 inner walls of barns and outbuildings" (Brewster). Rain 

 sometimes loosens the nest, which then falls to the bottom. 

 The young, when fed, keep up an energetic crying, easily 

 heard through the walls of the chimney. 



The Swift's common note is either a loud staccato chip, 

 chip, chip, or the same notes run rapidly together. This 

 chippering, heard from little groups high overhead, is often 

 the first intimation of the bird's presence in spring, and it 

 is continued constantly till mid-July, then less frequently 

 or only rarely till the bird's departure. 



Chimney Swifts resemble swallows in their appearance on 

 the wing and in their manner of feeding, but may be distin- 

 guished after a little practice by the appearance of the tail, 

 which is short and cigar-shaped, or fan-shaped when spread, 

 but never notched, forked, or square. Their flight, too, is 

 characteristic ; they alternate rapid bat-like strokes of the 

 wings with periods when they glide with their wings curved 

 in a long narrow crescent. Just before descending into a 

 chimney and often when two are flying together they raise 

 their wings at an angle over the body and keep them so for 

 an instant. As a rule they hawk high, sometimes very high, 

 but occasionally they fly low over grass, and they commonly 

 fly low over water. Swallows frequently light on wires and 

 twigs, but Swifts, as far as I know, have never been seen 

 to perch. At night, and in the heat of the day, they cling 

 to the rough bricks inside the chimney, supporting them- 

 selves with the help of the needle-like tips of their tail- 

 feathers. Marvelous tales are told by the older writers of 

 enormous numbers of Swifts which resorted nightly to 

 certain well-known hollow trees to roost. It is still pos- 

 sible to see several hundred gathering about some tall 

 deserted chimney down which they vanish at the approach 

 of dusk. 



