SWIFTS 



177 



lows [SwiftsJ of ihe forest brcedin^i,' in spring 

 and summer, and afterward roosting until the 

 time of their departure." And to this day, in 

 districts remote from human dwellings, or even 

 near them, it is not uneommon to find the birds 

 obeying this instinct, and nesting as did their 

 forbears who never saw a man-made chimney. 



During both the spring and the fall migrations, 

 the Swifts often gather in immense flocks and 



but saluting the ear with a multitudinous chip- 

 pering instead of a humming. People gathered 

 on the sidewalk to see them. It was a rare 

 circus performance free to all. After a great 

 many feints and j)layful approaches, the whirl- 

 ing ring of the birds would suddenly grow denser 

 above the chimney; then a stream of them, as if 

 drawn down by some power of suction, would 

 pour into the opening. I'or only a few seconds 



Photo by S. A. Lottridge 



NEST AND YOUNG OF THE CHIMNEY SWIFT 



After discovering this nest the photographer paid the owner of the chimney to allow him to tear down enough of it to obtain this 



picture 



make use of the same chinmey for a sleeping 

 room. Mr. Burroughs describes graphically one 

 of these grand going-to-bed performances, as 

 follows : " One fall they gathered in this way 

 and took refuge for the night in a large chimney- 

 stack near me for more than a month and a half. 

 Several times I went to town to witness the 

 spectacle, and spectacle it was ; ten thousand of 

 them, I should think, filling the air above a whole 

 square like a whirling swarm of huge black bees. 



would this downward rush continue; then, as if 

 the spirit of frolic had again got the upper hand 

 of them, the ring would rise, and the chippering 

 and circling go on. In a minute or two the same 

 maneuver would be repeated, the chimney, as 

 it were, taking its Swallows at intervals to pre- 

 vent choking. It usually took a half-hour or 

 more for the birds all to disappear down its 

 capacious throat." 



A remarkable fact, concerning the Swift is 



