152 THE SECOND BOOK OF BIRDS 
The tail of this bird is another queer thing. 
It has no soft feathery tips like most birds’ tails. 
It ends in sharp spines, like needles. These are 
most useful to brace him against the rough chim- 
ney where he sleeps. These spines are really the 
stiff shafts or stems of the feathers, sticking out 
beyond the plumey part. 
The chimney swift hangs himself up to sleep. 
He fastens his sharp claws into the rough bricks, 
and props himself firmly with his spiny tail. 
Even when the young swift is but two weeks old, 
he crawls out of the nest and hangs himself up 
under it. He seems to like that for a change 
from forever lying in a narrow bracket. 
Chimney swifts are social birds. They can’t 
bear to be alone. They are almost always seen 
flying about in small parties, and calling to each 
other as they go, a strange, chattering cry. 
They are of a sooty color suitable to their sooty 
home, and the pair are alike. Vaux’s swift is a 
little smaller and paler than the common chimney 
swift. 
The young swift is longer in his nursery than 
any bird of his size in the United States. He 
is four weeks old before he ventures out of his 
grimy home, though before that he will come 
up to the door to be fed. 
A late writer in a newspaper tells a little story 
