THE WILDERNESS IN JUNE 241 



these faithful friends of man, and I fear that 

 even their great optimism is here sadly shaken. 



In a Httle house set at the end of a stout pole 

 erected on the ridge of the log bani, Tree Swal- 

 lows are rearing their young, and they appear 

 very happy and quite at home in these sur- 

 roundings. Their ancestors not many genera- 

 tions ago were forest dwellers, nesting in hollow 

 trees; so perhaps their racial love for solitude 

 has not become wholly extinct, even though 

 they are glad to accept the proffer of so cozy a 

 home. Every minute of the day they appear to 

 be seeking food for their nestlings, their cheery 

 low-voiced warbles expressing deep domestic 

 joy. I see so many of these birds about the 

 woods that I am sure they still resort to their 

 primitive nesting places, although I have not 

 been able to find them. 



Many Chimney Swifts dart merrily about, 

 now over the forest, now skimming the surface 

 of pond and river, their rapidly uttered twitters 

 giving no suggestion of depressed spirits, al- 

 though here no wide-mouthed chimneys invite 

 them to make a home in their sooty depths. 



To be sure, in several unoccupied cabins they 

 have invaded the stovepipes which serve in lieu 

 of chimneys, but their nest building efforts 

 there soon come to naught, as they are unable 

 to securely fasten the material to the smooth, 

 curved surface of the iron pipe. In consequence, 

 after a hard rain the nests will be found in the 

 little air-tight stoves. These birds, too, resort 

 to hollow trees, and it is not an unusual sight 

 to see them rising in a black line from the depths 



