58 CYPSELID^E I SWIFTS. 



0.50 in breadth. In the North woods the nests are still 

 often constructed in hollow trees, as well as in barns and 

 sheds in the sparsely settled districts. 



The Swifts reach New England betimes in spring, 

 some seasons by the middle of April, and again not till 

 May, remaining through the greater part of September. 

 Were it not that, being so abundant and so universally 

 distributed, they lack the charm of novelty, they could 

 not but excite wonder and admiration, so splendid are 

 the powers of wing of these sombre-hued little creatures, 

 so graceful and varied are their aerial excursions, so joy- 

 ous and spontaneous their ceaseless twittering. They 

 have a rare genius for flying, and do well to trust them- 

 selves utterly to its promptings the keen-bladed, sharp- 

 pointed wing never fails of its stroke, though cutting a 

 substance far more tenuous than the silken fabric which 

 tested the temper of Damascus' steel not even when 

 a pair, sailing for many rods in close convoy, suddenly 

 meet with "the touch of the body electric," as Whitman 

 says in one of his realistic poems, and as speedily part 

 again, recovering their way with marvellous dexterity. 

 It is a pretty sight, again, to see the Swift hover for a 

 moment over the chimney, then set the wings at an up- 

 ward angle and drop lightly as a parachute down upon 

 the nest within the smoky orifice. So the summer passes 

 with these most airy of birds, in never ending cycles 

 and epicycles, spirals, scrolls and nameless gyrations 

 round the chosen nesting-place, till the coils are loosened, 

 the circles widen like the waves of a pool disturbed by 

 the falling stone, and the last curve straightens into 

 southward line. 



