CHIMNEY SWIFT 287 



6.21 : Getting closer again. 6.21 : 30 : Changed minds again. 6.22 : 30 : Look 

 as if they were getting ready to go to bed. 6.23: Getting closer; circles 

 variable, 150 to 200 feet in diameter nearest level of top of chimney, lower 

 portion, at times, possibly no more than 50 feet in diameter. 6.23 : 30 : Pass- 

 ing near top of chimney. 6.24 : Passing very close to top of chimney. 6.24 : 30 : 

 A few going in. 6.24 : 40 : Entering at rate of 15 or more per second. Same 

 maneuvers as on previous evenings. 6.25 : 30 : Going in very rapidly ; 15 

 per second a very conservative estimate. 6.2S: A second or two when they did 

 not go in so rapidly, being disturbed by the puffing of a locomotive on the 

 Georgia Railroad near by. 628:30: Going in as rapidly as ever. 6.30: All in; 

 stopped suddenly. 



Audubon (1840) gives an interesting account of a large number 

 of swifts he found roosting in a hollow tree in Louisville, Ky. He 

 says: 



I found it to be a sycamore, nearly destitute of branches, sixty or seventy 

 feet high, between seven and eight feet in diameter at the base, and about five for 

 the distance of forty feet up, where the stump of a broken hollowed branch, about 

 two feet in diameter, made out from the main stem. * * * Next morning I 

 rose early enough to reach the place long before the least appearance of day- 

 light, and placed my head against the tree. All was silent within. I remained 

 in that posture probably twenty minutes, when suddenly I thought the great 

 tree was giving way, and coming down upon me. Instinctively I sprung from 

 it, but wlien I looked up to it again, what was my astonislimeut to see it stand- 

 ing as firm as ever. The Swallows were now pouring out in a black continued 

 stream. I ran back to my post, and listened in amazement to the noise within, 

 which I could compare to nothing else than tlie sound of a large wheel revolving 

 under a powerful stream. It was yet dusky, so I could hardly see the hour on 

 my watch, but I estimated the time which they took in getting out at more 

 than thirty minutes. * * * 



The next day I hired a man, who cut a hole at the base of the tree. * * * 

 Knowing by experience that if the bii'ds should notice the hole below, they 

 would abandon the tree, I had it carefully closed. The Swallows came as usual 

 that night, and I did not disturb them for several days. At last, provided with 

 a dark lantern, I went with my companion about nine in the evening, deter- 

 mined to have a full view of the interior of the tree. The hole was opened with 

 caution. I scrambled up the sides of the mass of exuviae, and my friend 

 followed. All was perfectly silent. Slowly and gradually I brought the light of 

 the lantern to bear on the sides of the hole above us, when we saw the Swallows 

 clinging side by side, covering the v/hole surface of the excavation. In no in- 

 stance did I see one above another. Satisfied with the sight, I closed the lan- 

 tern. We then caught and killed with as much care as possible more than 

 a hundred, stowing them away in our pockets and bosoms, and slid down into 

 the open air. We observed that, while on this visit, not a bird had dropped its 

 dung upon us. Closing the entrance, we marched towards Louisville perfectly 

 elated. On examining the birds which we had procured, a hundred and fifteen 

 in number, we found only six females. Eighty-seven were adult males ; of the 

 remaining twenty-two the sex could not be ascertained, and I had no doubt that 

 they were the young of that year's first brood, the flesh and quill-feathers being 

 tender and soft. 



Audubon estimates that the number of birds "that roosted in this 

 single tree was 9,000." This investigation took place "in the month 

 of July." He visited the tree again on August 2, after the local 



