64 BIRD-SONGS ABOUT WORCESTER. 



of our Main Street blocks, as a most con- 

 venient substitute. 



The chimney-swift {chaettira pelasgid), 

 generally, but erroneously called the chim- 

 ney-swallow, is another bird often to be 

 seen in the early evening, circling about 

 far up in the sky. His perfectly blunt tail 

 is sufficient to distinguish him from the 

 family of swallows, to which he is in no 

 wise related. These birds are probably 

 the swiftest of the feathered tribe, and the 

 distance they cover in a single day must be 

 something simply marvellous. It is calcu- 

 lated that during the migrations these birds 

 travel as far as a thousand miles in a single 

 night. The swifts formerly built in hollow 

 trunks of trees, but now build in deserted 

 chimney-flues, from which habit they de- 

 rive their name. Formerly vast numbers 

 of them built in the chimneys of the old 

 Salisbury mansion on Lincoln Square, and 

 at all hours of the day they could be seen 

 circling about above the chimneys in dense 

 clouds. The chimney-swifts have been 

 with us now for several weeks. 





