CHIMNEY SWIFT. 
Of course the Chimney Swift has no song, but he has 
u very tolerable idea of keeping time with his fellows in 
a series of penetrating, rhythmic chirps (away up on the 
highest C of the piano) during an “all hands around” 
game of “‘tag”’ in ever narrowing circles about some 
neglected chimney of the old farmhouse. I will not say 
that the birds adhere to the metre in the following 
verses (!), but they come extremely near it, and, barring 
afew breaks, devote themselves entirely to the joys of 
alternating and consonant sound like that which charms 
our ears when two boilermakers fall to hammering on 
the rivets ! 
Chip chip chip chip, chip chip chip chip, 
Per-ché per-ché per-ché per-ché, per-ché per-ché per- 
ché, 
Chippy chippy chippy chippy, chippy chippy chippy 
chippy, 
Chip chip chip chip, chip chip chip ! 
The Swifts feed entirely while on the wing, and one 
seldom sees a bird perch anywhere except on or about 
the chimney. Naturally, therefore, one wonders what 
they did before the chimney ‘‘arrived” in America. 
The answer issimple enough. The case is one of adapta- 
tion to newer conditions; the Swift prefers the chimney 
to the hollow in the rotten tree, and that is partly 
because, nowadays, the hollow in the tree is not as com- 
mon as the chimney. Mr. Chapman says. the structural 
relations of the Chimney Swift ‘‘are with the Hum- 
mingbirds and not with the Passerine Swallows.” Per- 
haps that is the reason why there is such a loud hum to 
their wings within the chimney ! 
Family Trochilide. HUMMINGBIRDS. 
Hummingbirds belong exclusively in the New World. 
South America is their paradise, and the regions of the 
Andes are their favorite resort. Of some five hundred 
species which are now known, but seventeen are found 
in the United States, and only one species occurs east of 
23 
