356 Trees, Stars, and Birds 



many have you seen entering one chimney? Do they 

 ever get burned? Do they ever come down into a 

 room ? Where did they nest before there were chimneys 

 in this country ? Do any of them use other nesting places 

 now? Do. swifts do any good or harm? Can you dis- 

 tinguish them from swallows by their notes? Do they 

 merit the name " swift "? 



Swifts winter south of the United States. Before 

 leaving for the South they sometimes form large 

 flocks. When do they leave your locality? 



"With troops of fledglings catching their winged prey 

 as they go, and lodging by night in tall chimneys, the flocks 

 drift slowly south, joining with other bands, until on the 

 northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico they become an in- 

 numerable host. Then they disappear. Did they drop to 

 the water or hibernate in the mud as was believed of old, 

 their obliteration could not be more complete. In the last 

 week in March a joyful twittering far overhead announces 

 their return to the Gulf Coast, but their hiding place during 

 the intervening five months is still the swifts' secret." 



WELLS W. COOKE 



The nest of the chimney swift is composed of twigs 

 which are glued together and to the inside of the chimney 

 with saliva. The twigs are snatched from trees while 

 the bird is flying. In the East Indies are other species 

 of swifts which build nests in caves and on sea cliffs. 

 The Chinese value these nests very highly, sometimes 

 paying their weight in silver for them, for making their 

 bird's-nest soups. What the Chinese want is the saliva 

 used by the bird to glue together the fibers of the nest 

 and make it adhere to the wall, and not the fibrous 

 material that is used. 



