210 BIRDS OF FIELD, FOREST AND PARK 



numerous in the southern portion of their sum- 

 mer range. They are about seven and one-half 

 inches in length. 



Chimney Swift. Although this bird is more 

 often called the Chimney Swallow and classed 

 with that family, it is not a Swallow but, in fact, 

 is entirely distinct. It belongs to a group num- 

 bering some seventy-five varieties of which this 

 is the only one common in eastern North Amer- 

 ica. This bird, like the Swallows, feeds upon 

 insects taken on the wing. Its body is slender 

 and its wings long, giving it great strength and 

 rapidity of flight, but there is lacking the grace 

 of the Swallows. 



The plumage is a dull, sooty, grayish-black, 

 well suited, you would say, to a bird seeking its 

 nesting site in a hollow tree, dark cave, or un- 

 used chimney. The tail feathers have sharp 

 spines like the Woodpecker's, which assist greatly 

 in clinging to perpendicular surfaces. The nest 

 is a simple little shelf of sticks fastened to the 

 side of the chimney or hollow tree, by means of 

 a sticky saliva which is secreted by glands in 

 the bird's mouth. Their only notes are rapidly 

 uttered squeaks heard only when the bird is 

 flying. They are about five and one-half inches 

 in length. They usually rear two broods each 

 year, but their precarious nesting sites render 

 the fate of their broods somewhat uncertain. 

 They range in summer from Florida to Labra- 

 dor, wintering in Central America. They arrive 

 toward the end of April. 



At Katahdin Iron Works, in the Maine woods, 

 there is an old furnace with a stone chimney 



