232 CHIMNEY SWALLOW. 



and the numerous ready conveniences ^vhich these new situations afford, 

 are doubtless some of the advantages. The choice they have made cer- 

 tainly bespeaks something more than mere unreasoning instinct, and 

 does honor to their discernment. 



The nest of this bird is of singular construction, being formed of 

 very small twigs, fastened together with a strong adhesive glue or gum, 

 which is secreted by two glands, one on each side of the hind head, and 

 mixes with the saliva. With this glue, which becomes hard as the twigs 

 themselves, the whole nest is thickly besmeared. The nest itself is 

 small and shallow, and attached by one side or edge to the wall, and is 

 totally destitute of the soft lining with which the others are so plenti- 

 fully supplied. The eggs are generally four, and white. They gene- 

 rally have two broods in the season. The young are fed at intervals 

 during the greater part of the night, a fact which I have had frequent 

 opportunities of remarking both here and in the Mississippi territory. 

 The noise which the old ones make in passing up and down the funnel 

 has some resemblance to distant thunder. When heavy and long-con- 

 tinued rains occur, the nest, losing its hold, is precipitated to the bottom. 

 This disaster frequently happens. The eggs are destroyed ; but the 

 young, though blind (which they are for a considerable time), sometimes 

 scramble up along the vent, to which they cling like squirrels, the 

 muscularity of their feet and the sharpness of their claws at this tender 

 age being remarkable. In this situation they continue to be fed for 

 perhaps a week or more. Nay, it is not uncommon for them voluntarily 

 to leave the nest long before they are able to fly, and to fix themselves 

 on the wall, where they are fed until able to hunt for themselves. 



When these birds first arrive in spring, and for a considerable time 

 after, they associate together every evening in one general rendezvous ; 

 those of a whole district roosting together. This place of repose, in 

 the more unsettled parts of the country, is usually a large hollow tree 

 open at top, trees of that kind, or Swallow trees, as they are usually 

 called, having been noticed in various parts of the country and gene- 

 rally believed to be the winter quarters of these birds, where, heaps 

 upon heaps, they dozed away the winter in a state of torpidity. Here 

 they have been seen on their resurrection in spring, and here they 

 have again been remarked descending to their death-like sleep in 

 autumn. 



Among various accounts of these trees that might be quoted, the fol- 

 lowing are selected as bearing the marks of authenticity. " At Middle- 

 bury, in this state," says Mr. Williams, Hist, of Vermont, p. IG, "there 

 was a large hollow elm, called by the people in the vicinity, the Swallow 

 tree. From a man who for several years lived within twenty rods of it, 

 I procured ilii.s information. He always thought the Swallows tarried 

 in the tree through the winter, and avoided cutting it down on that 



