10 Bird Portratts 
on telegraph wires, but I have never seen a Swift perch on any 
support outside a chimney. At night and during such part of the 
day as is given up to rest, the bird supports itself in chimneys 
by clinging to projections or crevices. The stiff, sharp-pointed tail 
feathers aid greatly in supporting it. Before the coming of the 
white man, hollow trees served as the roosting and nesting places 
of the Swifts. 
There is no better practice for the eye than distinguishing 
swallows from Swifts, when both species are mingled in the air. 
The Swift's flight, though very powerful, suggests that of the bat, 
on account of the frequency of the wing strokes; the rapid beating 
of the wings ceases at intervals and the bird glides through the 
air or turns on set wings. Then the twinkling flight begins again. 
There are none of those long sweeping strokes with which the Barn 
Swallow cleaves the air. The tail of the Swift, when the bird is 
flying, generally appears short and cigar-shaped, or, if spread, it is 
fan-shaped, not forked like the tails of all the swallows. 
The ordinary note of the Swift is a single sharp cry, slowly or 
rapidly repeated; it is characteristic of warm summer evenings when 
the birds fly about the houses in twos or threes, pursuing each other 
and uttering this note s¢accato. A pretty sight at this time is the 
Swift sailing with wings raised above the body, in the position of 
our common pigeon just before alighting; the Swift assumes the 
same attitude above the chimney, poising a moment before he drops 
into the flue. 
Early in September the Swifts leave the North, and may be 
seen high overhead flying southward; unlike many of our small birds, 
they migrate by day, their powers of flight protecting them from the 
birds of prey which are such a menace to the smaller birds. 
