MICROPODID^ — THE SWIFTS. 365 



try to see at evening dense swarms, consisting of thousands of in- 

 dividuals, descending into unused chimneys, to roost during the 

 night. Indeed, so many thus congregate together within a compar- 

 atively hmited space that they must certainly cling fast to one an- 

 other like bees when "swarming." The following description of a 

 "swallow tree" in the northern part of the State is clipped from 

 the Chicago Times: 



"Among the attractions at Grand Lodge is a 'swallow tree,' 

 which stands on the shore directly in front of the Island House. 

 The swallows commence to assemble about 7 : 30 p. m., forming a 

 circle around the top of the tree until three or four thousand have 

 arrived, and then rapidly disappear beneath the foliage. The tree 

 is a sycamore, is hollow its entire length, and has been mhabited 

 by swallows for nine successive years, the visitors not varying four 

 days in the date of their arrival; viz., from the twenty-fourth to 

 the twenty-ninth of April. They leave their resting place every 

 morning at sunrise, and take their final departure when frost 

 comes." 



Before the country became thickly settled, the "Chimney Swal- 

 low" nested habitually in hollow trees, especially sycamores, having 

 a large hollow trunk, opening, like a chimney, at the top. The 

 writer has found nests thus situated at Mount Carmel, and at the 

 same place discovered another glued to the inside of an outbuilding 

 built of upright planks. 



