In the Wake of the Brown Thrasher 



Some years ago two or three hundred of 

 them indulged in this performance nearly 

 every clear night during the month of Sep- 

 tember at All Saints' church, near my 

 home in Norristown, Pennsylvania, much 

 to the astonishment and dehght of a number 

 of small folk to whom it was entirely novel, 

 and who turned out regularly to see it. 

 The chimney here is capacious, or there 

 would not have been room for them all. 



They go inside to find shelter and sleep, 

 of course, clinging close together along the 

 interior until sometimes it is lined com- 

 pletely, and getting additional support for 

 themselves from the stiff spikes or spines 

 with which they are provided for that 

 purpose in place of a tail. 



The circumstance that Chimney Swifts 

 feed entirely on insects, which they take 

 while in flight (and they are able to do this 

 at night as well as during the day time), 

 results in season in their becoming indi- 

 rectly a sort of natural barometer. When 

 prevaiUng clear weather is to continue, the 

 bugs they reUsh fly high in the buoyant 



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