^Popular Qtrtumarj) of 



$aturr. 657 



inclined to brown. The Swift builds its : have uniformly adopted this new conve- 

 nience, not a single pair being observed to 

 prefer the woods. Security from birds of prey 

 and other animals, from storms that fre- 

 quently overthrow the timber, and the nu- 



. 



nest in the holes and crevices of high towers 

 or lofty steeples ; it is constructed of dried 

 grass, silk or linen threads, pieces of muslin, 

 feathers, and such kind of materials, which 

 the bird collects on the wing, picking them 

 up from the ground with great dexterity. 

 It lays only two white, oblong eggs ; and 

 during the period of incubation the male is 

 continually flying to and fro, uttering ita 

 loud screaming note. It has but one brood 

 in the year, so that the young ones have 

 time to gain strength enough to accompany 

 the parent birds in their distant excursions. 

 They have been noticed at the Cape of Good 

 Unite, and probably visit the more remote 

 regions of Asia. Swifts fly higher, and wheel 

 with bolder wing than the Swallows, with 

 which they never intermingle. Their life 

 seems to be divided into two extremes ; the 

 one of the most violent exertion, the other 

 of perfect inaction ; they must either shoot 

 through the air, or remain close in their 

 holes. They are seldom seen to alight ; but if 

 by any accident they should fall upon a piece 

 of even ground, it is with difficulty they can 

 recover themselves, owing to the shortness 

 of their feet and the great length of their 

 wings. They are said to avoid heat, and 

 for this reason pass the middle of the day in 

 their holes : in the morning and evening 

 they go out in quest of provision ; they then 

 are seen in flocks, describing an endless 

 series' of circles upon circles, sometimes in 

 close ranks, pursuing the direction of a street, 

 and sometimes whirling round a large edi- 

 fice, all screaming together : they often 

 glide along without stirring their wings, and 

 on a sudden they move them with frequent 

 and quickly repeated strokes. They arrive 

 about the beginning of May, and depart in 

 August. 



AMERICAN CHIMNEY SWALLOW. Acan- 

 thi/lis jtelasgia.) " This species," says the great 

 American ornithologist, Wilson, " is pecu- 

 liarly our own ; and strongly distinguished 

 from all the rest of our Swallows by its figure, 

 flight, and manners. This Swallow, like all 

 the rest of its tribe in the United States, is 

 migratory, arriving in Pennsylvania late in 

 April or early in May, and dispersing them- 

 selves over the whole country wherever there 

 are vacant chimneys in summer sufficiently 

 high and convenient for their accommoda- 

 tion. In no other situation with us are they 

 observed at present to build. This circum- 

 stance naturally suggests the query, Where 

 did these birds construct their nests before the 

 arrival of Europeans in this country, when 

 there were no such places for their accom- 

 modation ? I would answer, Probably in 

 the same situations in which they still con- 

 tinue to build in the remote regions of our 

 western forests, where European improve- 

 ments of this kind are scarcely to be found, 

 namely, in the hollow of a tree, which, in 

 some cases, has the nearest resemblance to 

 their present choice of any other." " The 

 present site which they have chosen must 

 hold out many more advantages than the 

 former, since we see that, in the whole thickly 

 settled parts of the United States, these birds 



merous ready conveniences which these new 

 situations afford, are doubtless some of the 

 advantages. The choice they have made 

 certainly bespeaks something more than 

 mere unreasoning instinct, and does honour 

 to their discernment. 



" The nest of this bird is of singular con- 

 rtruction, being formed of very small twig, 

 fastened together with a strong adhesive glue 

 or gum, which is secreted by two glands, one 

 on each side of the hind head, and mixes 

 with the saliva. With this glue, which be- 

 comes hard as the twigs themselves, the 

 whole nest is thickly besmeared. The nest 

 itself is small and shallow, and attached by 

 one side or edge to the wall, and is totally 

 destitute of the soft lining with which the 

 others are so plentifully supplied. The eggs 

 are generally four and white, and they have 

 generally two broods in a season. The 

 young are fed at intervals during the greater 

 part of the night, a fact which I have had 

 frequent opportunities of remarking both 

 here and in the Mississippi territory. The 

 noise which the old ones make in passing 

 up and down the funnel has some resem- 

 blance to distant thunder. When heavy 

 and long continued rains occur, the nest, 

 losing its hold, is precipitated to the bott 

 This disaster frequently happens. The e 



om. 

 eggs 

 are destroyed ; but the young, though blind, 



(which they are for a considerable time,) 

 sometimes scramble up along the vent, to 

 which they cling like squirrels, the mus- 

 cularity of their feet, and the sharpness of 

 their claws, at this tender age, being re- 

 markable. In this situation they continue 

 to be fed for perhaps a week or more. When 

 these birds first arrive in spring, and for a 

 considerable time after, they associate to- 

 gether every evening in one general rendez- 

 vous ; those of a whole district roosting to- 

 gether. This place of repose, in the more 

 unsettled parts of the country, is usually a 

 large hollow tree, open at top ; trees of that 

 kind, or swallow trees, as they are usually 



