256 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



-([uickly, with a few l)old strokes of their long, pointed wings, they will 

 rise to the former height, and (hish hither and thither as Ijefore. 



Poets, in all ages, have sung the praises of their favorite birds, 

 and even to-day, from the unromantic plains of Chatham come the 

 following lines on the habit of the Nighthawk, just described : 



" With half closed wings and quivering boom, 

 Descending througii the deepening gloom, 

 Like plumniet falling from the sky. 

 Where some poor moth may vainly ti y 



A goal to win — 

 He iiolds him with his glittering ej'e 



And scoops him in." 



Towards the end of August, when the first frosts begin to cut off 

 their supply of insect food, large gatherings of Nighthawks may be 

 seen in the evenings moving toward the south-west, not in regular 

 order like ducks or pigeons, but skinnning, dai-ting and crossing 

 each other in every imaginable direction, and still with a general 

 tendency toward the soutli, till darkness hifles them from our view. 



8ljb()KDKK CYPSELI. Swifjs. 



Family MICROPODID^l Swifts. 



Subfamily CH^TURIN^. Spink-tailkd Swifts. 



Genus CH^TURA Stkpiikxs. 



CH^TURA PELAGICA (Lixx.). 



181'. Chimney Swift. (423) 



Sooty brown with faint greenish gloss above ; l)eloM-, paler, becoming gray 

 on the throat ; wings, black. Length, about 5 ; wing,* the same ; tail, 2 or less. 



Hab. — Eastern North America, north to Lalirador and the Fur Countries, 

 west to the Plains, and passing south of the United States in wintei'. 



Nest, a basket of twigs glued together, and to tlie side of the chimney or 

 other support by the saliva of the bird. 



Eggs, four or five, pure white. 



The Swift is a late comer, and while hei'e seems evei- anxious to 

 make up for lost time, being constantly on the wing, darting aliout 

 with great rapidity, sometimes high overhead, sometimes skimming 

 the surface of the pond, often so closely as to be able to sip from the 

 water as it passes over it, or snap uji the insects which hover on the 

 surface. 



