414 THE VAUX SWIFT. 



the bird's saliva and similarly cemented to the wood inside of a hollow tree. 

 Eggs: 4-6, pure white. Av. size, .77 x .50 (19.6x12.7). Season: June; one 

 brood. 



General Range. — Pacific Coast States and British Columbia, breeding thru- 

 out its range ; south in winter to Central .America. 



Range in Washington. — Not common summer resident in timbered sections 

 and in mountain valleys ; locally distributed. 



Migrations. — Spring: Blaine, i\Iay 8. 1905. Fall: Seattle, Se])tember 20, 



I907- 



Authorities. — Lxpschis vaitxi Townsend, "Narrative," 1839, 348. T. C&S. 

 Rh. D'. Ra. D-'. B. E. 



Specimens. — Prov. C. E. 



« 



"TPIE wa\' iif an\- bird in the air cuniniands interest, btit the way of the 

 Swift pro\-okes both admiration and astonishment. With \'olitatorial powers 

 which are uneqiialed by any other land bird, this a\'ian missile goes hurtling 

 across the sky without injury, or else minces along slowdy with pretended 

 difficulty. Now it waddles to and fro in strange zigzags, picking up a gnat at 

 every angle, and again it "lights out" with sudden access of energy and alter- 

 nate wing strokes, intent on hawking in heaven's upper story. At favorite 

 seasons the birds cross and recross each other's paths in lawless mazes and fill 

 the air with their strident creakings, while here and there couples and even 

 trios sail about in great stiff curves with wings held aloft. It is the only 

 opportunity afforded for ])ersonal attentions, and it is probable that the sexes 

 have no further acquaintance excejit as they pass and repass in ministering 

 to the young. 



"In nesting the Chimney 'Sweeps' seek out the smaller chimneys of 

 dwelling houses, and usually onlv one pair occupies a single shaft. Short 

 twigs are seized and snapped off by the bird's beak in midflight, and these, 

 after being rolled about in the copious saliva, are made fast to the bricks, a 

 neat and homogeneous bracket being thus formed. This will be sufficient to 

 support the half dozen crystal white eggs and the hissing squabs which follow, 

 unless a premature fire or a long-continued rain dissolves the glue and tumbles 

 the fabric into the grate. 



"Sitting birds, when discovered, oftenest drnp below the nest and 

 hide, clinging easily with the tiny feet supported by the spiny tail. The 

 male bird seldom pays any attention unless there are young, in which 

 case he even brushes past the intruder and enters the nest in his eager- 

 ness to share the hour of danger. The young are rather slow in develop- 

 ment and it requires, according to Mr. Otto Widmann, two months to rear 

 a family of them. Usually only one brood is raised, but a .second nesting 



