66 BIRD STORIES FROM BURROUGHS 



more marked with her than with any other of our 

 birds. Her feeding and twig-gathering seem like 

 asides in a lif e of endless play. Several times both 

 in spring and fall I have seen swifts gather in 

 immense numbers toward nightfall, to take refuge 

 in large unused chimney-stacks. On such occa- 

 sions they seem to be coming together for some 

 aerial festival or grand celebration ; and, as if 

 bent upon a final effort to work off a part of 

 their superabundant wing-power before settling 

 down for the night, they circle and circle high 

 above the chimney-top, a great cloud of them, 

 drifting this way and that, all in high spirits and 

 chippering as they fly. Their numbers constantly 

 increase as other members of the clan come dash- 

 ing in from all points of the compass. Swifts 

 seem to materialize out of empty air on all sides 

 of the chippering, whirling ring, as an hour or 

 more this assembling of the clan and this flight 

 festival go on. The birds must gather in from 

 whole counties, or from half a State. They have 

 been on the wing all day, and yet now they seem 

 as tireless as the wind, and as if unable to curb 

 their powers. 



One fall they gathered in this way and took 

 refuge for the night in a large chimney-stack in 

 a city near me, and kept this course up for more 

 than a month and a half. Several times I went 



