H 



THE MUSEUM. 



culty, simply by fastening a small, well 

 lined box to the end of a pole — a joint- 

 ed fish pole is best — and holding it 

 just below the nest, then with another 

 pole gently detach the nest and allow 

 it with its contents to fall into the box. 



In this locality where the manufac- 

 ture of maple sugar is an important in- 

 dustry and nearly every farm has a set 

 of buildings specially for the purpose, 

 and which are occupied only a few 

 weeks during the months of March and 

 April, the chimneys of these buildings 

 are a favorite resort. Prof. Cook in 

 "Birds of Michigan" cites an instance 

 of Chimney Swift occupying an abon- 

 doned nest of a Barn Swallow. While 

 giving the professor much credit for 

 his work, I believe him to be mistaken 

 in this case. I do not think the Swift 

 ever occupies the nest of any other 

 bird, though possibly it might do so if 

 its own nest should be destroyed just 

 as the bird was about to lay its eggs. 

 The eggs of the Phoebe are of a similar 

 size and color as those of the Swift 

 and might be mistaken for them and 

 its nest is similar to and in some in- 

 stances closely resembles that of the 

 Barn Swallow, and I believe that the 

 correspondent of Prof. Cook mistook 

 the eggs of a Phoebe for those of a 

 Swift and its nest for that of a Barn 

 Swallow. 



I have already alluded to the fact 

 tnat formerly the Swift made use of 

 hollow trees for nesting places. I 

 wish now to more fully describe some 

 of these trees and especially note a 

 most singular circumstance connected 

 therewith. 



Wilson described a sycamore in Ohio 

 five feet in diameter which had doubt- 

 less been used by thousands of birds, 

 perhaps for centuries, for its immense 



hollow was found to be filled for a. 

 space of fifteen feet with feathers, ex- 

 crement, rotten wood and the exuvia 

 of insects. Hundreds of similar trees 

 differing only in size and species, have 

 been found in this state, but only in a 

 single instance so far as I know have 

 they received any particular attention. 

 A tree was found at Middlebury, some 

 years ago the diameter of the hollow- 

 of which was about fifteen inches. 

 This cavity was filled for a depth of 

 seven feet with the same material as 

 the one described by Wilson. Now, 

 had the feathers been scattered prom- 

 iscuously throughout the mass there 

 would have been nothing remarkable 

 about it; but such was not the case. 

 The feathers were nearly all carefully 

 arranged with the quills pointing out, 

 and the plumes pointing towards the 

 center of the cylindrical mass, and 

 were mostly arranged in layers each 

 layer being between an alternate layer 

 of other refuse. 



This arrangement might, possibly 

 be accounted for by supposing that 

 squirrels or other small quadrupeds had 

 habitually nested in the hollow and 

 had so placed the feathers for the pur- 

 pose of making a more comfortable 

 bed. 



But this arrangement is by no means 

 the most curious circumstance con- 

 nected with the deposit. Scattered 

 through the mass were found a large 

 number of wing and tail feathers ar- 

 ranged with relation to each other, ex- 

 actly as they belonged in the living 

 bird. In many instances the second- 

 aries were occupying their relative po- 

 sitions, both in relation to one another 

 and to the primaries. In no case 

 were any other feathers than those of 

 the wing and tail so found and in no- 



