l62 



Bird- Lore 



was the male and tlie silent sitter the female, 

 wliich was iloabtless the case. — Mar^' 



MaNN' Mll.l.RR. 



Nesting Habits of the Chimney Swift 



Although having often read of the Chim- 

 ney Swift nesting in hollow trees, and the 

 usual place being in unused chimneys, 

 nothing has ever come to my notice, in 

 literature, stating that the\' nest in other 

 places. 



In this locality, more nests are built 

 inside buildings than tiiere are inside chim- 

 neys. The nests are usually glued to the 

 gable end of tiie building — sometimes barns, 

 sometimes old uninhabited houses are 

 chosen — and one nest, the past summer, was 

 built in a blacksmith shop within fifteen 

 feet of the forge. A number of years ago 

 a pair nested in the upper part of a liouse 

 in which a family lived, and near to a bed 

 in which children slept every night. In 

 this case the birds entered through a broken 

 window. 



On only two occasions has the writer 

 observed the Swifts collecting their nest 

 material. They chose the dead twigs 

 from the tops of trees, on one occasion a 

 white maple, another time from a hemlock. 

 As the birds i\e\v slowly along, they would 

 seize a twig in their bill and were generally 

 successful in breaking it away. When the 

 twig was not broken ofT, the bird would fly 

 but a short distance and return and try 

 another. 



Sometimes the egg- laying begins before 

 the nest is completed. The eggs are laid 

 usually in the morning, one being laid each 

 day until the set is completed, the number 

 being five. 



When the last egg is laid incubation be- 

 gins, twenty-two days being recjuired before 

 the young are hatched. 



Should the first set of eggs be taken, and 

 the birds not frightened, they will again 

 have eggs, in the same nest, in two weeks' 

 time. 



\Vhether both birds incubate I do not 

 know, as the sexes are so nearly alike in 

 plumage. 



About three weeks are required for the 



young to get a sufficient growth of wing- 

 feathers to be able to fly. During this time 

 the\' are fed by both birds, at an\ time, day 

 or night. 



A chimney would appear tf) be a very 

 safe place for a pair of birds to raise a 

 brood to be free from enemies. \'et there 

 is one enemy they are unable to cope with 

 — that is rain. A heavy rain, when the 

 young are about half grown, loosens the 

 glued sticks from the sooty chimney, and 

 young and nest fall to the bottom of the 

 shaft, where the young soon perish of hun- 

 ger, as the old birds do not seem to feed 

 them after the fall. 



In such cases the young are often taken 

 by the people of the house, placed in a 

 small basket or box, lowered a short dis- 

 tance into the chimney from the top, where 

 they are fed and cared for as if nothing 

 had happened. — W. H. Moore, Sotch 

 Lake, N. B. 



Destruction of Birds by Lightning 



In connection with Dr. Morton's account 

 of the destruction of birds by a hail-storm, 

 at Minneapolis, in August, 1901, published 

 in this issue of Bird-Lore, the following 

 report from t:ie ' N. Y. Sun ' of the effect 

 on Sparrows of a severe storm which oc- 

 curred in New York city on the evening 

 of July 28, is of interest: "More than a 

 thousand Sparrows were killed by the storm 

 at the corner of Hudson and Third streets, 

 Hoboken. Two large shade trees in front 

 of the Beachwood apartment house were 

 struck by lig'uning shortly after the storm 

 began, and a moment afterward the lawn 

 in front of the house was a carpet of feathers. 

 Most of the birds were killed outright, 

 but there were several hundred that be- 

 gan to hop about their dead mates and 

 chirp." 



Cats and Bells. 



A corres[)ondent recommemls the placing 

 of bells on cats to prevent them from catch- 

 ing birds, and states that the plan has been 

 tried with success. 



