Vol. XXV. No. 6.] 
POPTJLAE SCIENCE KEWS. 
89 
is conducted with great excitement in the ant 
home, the ants relieving each other with great 
alacrity. After the cocoon is rent asunder the 
insect is still enclosed in a filmy covering, from 
which it has to be rescued, when it is able to walk 
a little and receive nourishment. The process of 
education is then carried on, and reminds one of 
a new servant being made acquainted with the 
house and its workings. Then comes the difficult 
task of extending the delicate wings of the males 
and females. The female ant and the workers 
seem to be of great importance, but the male 
plays but a small part, as he does in the rest of 
the insect world, and one almost pauses to wonder 
how he developed his great pretension in higher 
circles. He has no weapons of offense or defens^, 
— no teeth, sting, or ovipositer ; — and Iluber main- 
tains that his life is very short after he has ful- 
filled his oflSce of reproduction. His privileges in 
the ant world are purely negative. Nature seems 
to dismiss him from life without any ceremonj'. 
The workers remain six weeks in the egg, a 
month in the larva state, and from twenty-five to 
twenty-seven days a pupa. 
I was fortunate enough to discover a species of 
ant here that I had been looking for for months 
without success ; a species that is incapable of 
supplying its own food or of feeding itself when 
it is provided. They are known to scientific men 
as slave-making amazon ants, and have finely- 
pointed mandibles, fitted for scimitars, but use- 
less as instruments of labor ; weapons with which 
they attack the nests of other species, and carry 
ofi" the larvae and pupaa to swell the retinue of 
their slaves, who feed and clean them, nurse their 
young, and build their nests. Separated from 
their slaves they perish in a short time. In my 
experiments I furnished them with honey, but 
they would merely smear their legs with it and 
die of stnrvation. I have an ant that I have al- 
lowed a slave for an hour a day to feed and clean 
her, and now after two months she is still well. 
The warlike expeditions of these ants are indeeil 
interesting and amusing. I witnessed a party 
starting between three and four one afternoon, in 
a column six or seven inches in width, the signal 
to start being conveyed by striking the foreheads 
of their companions with their antennau. They 
marched along till they reached a nest of the 
negro ant {Formica fusca), which they attacked 
with the utmost furj', carrying ofi" the larva; and 
pup;c of the workers alone, which are easily 
distinguished by their small size; these they 
carried away with all the energy of a Homeric 
hero. 
Poets of all ages have sung of the ant storing 
up seeds for future use, but the naturalists pro- 
nounced tlie poets in the wrong; that ants did 
not garner grain, that it was impossible for them 
to eat such hard substances, and, moreover, that 
since they became torpid In winter, they had no 
need of stored-up provisions. But Charles I^es- 
pes, with his poetical insight, suggested the true 
solution : that the naturalists had been observing 
the ants of the north, and that the harvesting ants 
chiefly Inhabit the shores of tropical countries. 
From careful observation he learned that they do 
store seeds, and their object in so doing. The 
seeds in germinating produce a certain amount of 
sugar, while the outer coating becomes soft. It 
is In germinating that ants devour the sweet pulp 
of the seed. Thus, when we think we have com- 
pleted the study and that there is nothing new to 
be learned, there comes to us new testimony and 
knowledge that opens a new field for observation, 
and we begin to realize that for all our years of 
study how little we know of them after all. 
[Original in PoPDLAK Science News.] 
CHIMXEY SWALLOWS. 
BY S. L. CLATES. 
The chimney swallow, or American swift, is 
more curious in his habits, and he is more dainty 
in his person, than any other member of the swal- 
low tribe that is to be found upon this continent. 
If you can capture one — which is somewhat diffi- 
cult — and hold him in your hand, you will find 
him a little creature hardly more than four inches 
long, of a deep sooty brown color all over his 
body, except that he has a little white just below 
his bill and a line of the same over his eye. Ills 
wings are so long that when folded they extend 
beyond his tail, and if stretched open measure at 
least a foot from the tip of one to that of the 
other. His legs are short, and his feet extremely 
strong and muscular, ending in very sharp curved 
claws. When he is in the air he can be distin- 
guished from the other kinds of swallows by his 
small body and his wide-spreading wings, which 
he moves so slightly and rapidly in flying that 
they seem to be held quite stiff" and still, as he 
sails high above the earth in great circles, or 
shoots swiftly here and there, crying, "tsip, tsip, 
tsip, tsee, tsee," in a breathless, hurried sort of 
way. He is abroad earlier in the morning and 
later in the evening than any other bird. His 
spirits are unfailing, but he is always gayest and 
most lively in the very worst weather. He Is said 
never to alight unless it be inside a chimney or 
some tall hollow tree. In truth the air is his 
home. Except during the very short time which 
he gives to sleep, or when brooding upon the 
eggs, our little swift is forever on the wing. He 
eats, drinks, and even feeds his young while fly- 
ing. His short, broad beak opens widely, making 
a sort of scoop-shaped mouth, in which he gathers 
up the insects on which he feeds, as he darts 
hither and thither through the air; or, perhaps, 
you may see him skimming along, close above the 
surface of some sheet of water, and sipping as he 
flies. 
As one may judge from his name, he is particu- 
larly partial to chimneys, and, if he can find one 
to his mind, always builds his nest in it. Of 
course it Is essential that it be unused in summer, 
and the higher it is the better, apparently, he 
likes it. Where the country is but thinly peopled 
he seeks out a high hollow tree, — usually some 
lofty elm, — which he uses in the absence of his 
chimney; but as soon as settlements begin to 
grow the swallows forsake their trees. They 
seem for some reason to prefer the neighborhood 
of man. It may be that within the towns they 
feel safer from birds of prey; perhaps they find 
more insect food, or a wider range for their cir- 
cling flights ; or, possibly, their nests may adhere 
better to the chimney-walls than to the smoother 
texture of the tree-hollow. Why it is we do not 
know, but the pleasant fact exists that they like 
to live among us. 
Their nests have a curious likeness to those suc- 
culent ones made by the East Indian swallows, 
wliich the Chinese esteem so highly, and for 
which they pay such fabulous sums. Our swal- 
low makes his of slender twigs, instead of moss 
or seaweed, weaving them neatly into a sort of 
basket form, and then binding the whole together 
by a strong adhesive glue, which is secreted by 
two glands at the back of his head, and mingled 
with his saliva. This glue soon becomes as hard 
as the twigs themselves. The nest is fastened by 
its side, or edge, to the inside of the chimney or 
tree. It is quite small, and has no soft lining of 
hay, moss, or feathers. The little white eggs, 
four in number, are laid upon the hard, rough 
glue of the nest. They are, nevertheless, very 
precious to the parents, who, when the fledgelings 
come forth, so devote themselves to the care of 
the blind, helpless creatures that they continue 
feeding them all night long. If a heavy rain 
softens the glue with which the nest is fastened, 
and it falls down the chimney, the young birds, 
though they may still be blind, creep up the 
walls, holding on by their sharp little claws as 
deftly as so many squirrels, and are fed in this 
position for some time. When the little ones at 
last are grown quite beyond the parents' care, 
four more eggs are laid and a second brood raised 
later In the summer. 
All the chimney swallows of a whole district, 
on their first arrival in the spring from their 
southern winter home, associate together in a 
common sleeping or roosting place. When the 
country is thinly settled, as was the case in New 
England many years ago, a large hollow tree, 
open at the top, was the place they usually chose. 
These trees were called "swallow trees," and 
were observed with interest by the earlier settlers. 
In Middlebury, Vt., there was such a tree, of 
which Mr. Williams, in his history of Vermont, 
says : " About the first of May the swallows 
came out of it in large numbers In the middle of 
the day, and soon returned.- As the weather 
grew warmer they came out in the morning with 
a loud noise, or roar, and were soon dispersed. 
About half an hour before sundown they returned 
in millions, circling two or three times round the 
tree, then descending like a stream into the hole. 
It was customary for persons in the vicinity to 
visit the place to observe the motions of these 
birds ; and when any person disturbed their oper- 
ations by striliing violently against the tree with 
an axe, the swallows would rush out in millions, 
and with a great noise." In November, 1791, the 
top of this tree was blown off", twenty feet below 
where the swallows entered ; there has been no 
appearance of the swallows since. 
Another 'swallow tree was at Bridport, Vt. 
From this tree, Mr. Williams says, "half an hour 
after sunrise they rushed out like a stream', as big 
as the hole in the tree would admit, and ascended 
in a perpendicular line until they were above the 
tops of the adjacent trees ; then assumed a circu- 
lar motion, performing their evolutions two or 
three times, but always in a larger circle, and 
then dispersed in every direction. A little before 
sundown they returned in immense numbers, 
forming several circular motions, and then de- 
scended like a stream into the hole, from whence 
they came out again in the morning." 
At Easton, Pa., Wilson, the ornithologist, hear- 
ing that they used the chimney of the court-house 
for a sleeping place, watch'ed them one evening. 
He writes : " There could not have been less than 
four or five hundred of them, keeping up a regular 
circuitous sweep around the top of the court- 
house, and about fourteen or fifteen feet above it, 
revolving with great rapidity for at least ten min- 
utes. Some as they passed made a feint of enter- 
ing, which was repeated by the whole circling 
multitude in succession; in this feint they ap- 
proached nearer and nearer at each revolution, 
dropping perpendicularly, but still passing over; 
the circle becoming more contracted and the 
rapidity of its revolution greater, until at length 
one and then another dropped in ; another and 
another followed until the whole multitude had 
descended, except one or two, who flew off" as if 
to collect the stragglers, and soon returned with 
six or eight more, which, after one or two rounds, 
disappeared within the chimney, and all was silent 
