DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 13 



I have seen the old birds dive in from the northwest, where is a 

 field with but few trees in it. The young birds could not come 

 in, until two weeks later, from any direction but the southwest. 

 To land in their favorite place from this dive from the north- 

 west the Swifts must not only reverse themselves as they always 

 must do after diving, but must turn when in the chimney from 

 facing southeast to facing northeast — quite a feat. To go out 

 the northw'est way they always began to turn from northeast — 

 as they were facing in their starting place — to northwest, while 

 beating up the chimney. By the time they reached the top they 

 would face northwest and would have simply to toss themselves 

 out, which they would do in a great swoop that would carry tliem 

 to within ten feet of the ground before they began to mount up- 

 wards. 



On July 31, the morning after my day of close observation of 

 the Swifts, I observed them pretty carefully. The chimney 

 was empty from 8:30 to 12. A bunch hung together for a 

 while at noon. Two young birds spent most of the afternoon 

 in the chimney. They preened themselves even more diligently 

 than they did the previous day, and loose feathers were dropping 

 every time I looked up the chimney. Those feathers, lodged in 

 crannies of the brick and stone and plaster of the walls, caught 

 the light like spiders' webs on dewy grass, and glinted silver 

 among the shadows in the chimney. The old birds, too, lost 

 some of their long wing feathers, and by August 7 there was 

 quite a collection of small feathers and half a dozen long feath- 

 ers in the fire-place. By August 14, the young birds could 

 enter the chimney as well as their parents, diving fearlessly. 

 After August 17 I never saw them enter the chinmey by day or 

 heard them drumming there, day or night, for our chimney 

 never had been a ' ' swallow roost. ' ' 



I still see (September 20) and 1 will see yet for three weeks, 

 if this season is like previous ones, Swifts sporting in the great 

 trough of air between the long line of woods a hundred yards to 

 the southeast of our house and the lines of tall trees along the 

 lanes to our southwest and northwest. But in the chimney of 

 our little house, that stands opposite a break in this northwest 

 line, it will be next year's May before we have the chimney 

 birds again. 



