428 CHIMNEY SWALLOW. 



tion they continue to be fed for perhaps a week or more. Nay 

 it is not uncommon for them voluntarily to leave the nest long 

 before they are able to fly, and to fix themselves on the wall, 

 where they are fed until able to hunt for themselves. 



When these birds first arrive in spring, and for a considera- 

 ble time after, they associate together every evening in one 

 general rendezvous; those of a whole district roosting together. 

 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 called, having been noticed 

 in various parts of the country and generally believed to be the 

 winter quarters of these birds, where, heaps upon heaps, they 

 dozed away the 'winter in a state of torpidity. Here they have 

 been seen on their resurrection in spring, and here they have 

 again been remarked descending to their death-like sleep in au- 

 tumn. 



Among various accounts of these trees that might be quoted, 

 the following are selected as bearing the marks of authenticity. 

 " At Middlebury, in this state," says Mr. Williams, Hist, of 

 Vermont, p. 16, "there was a large hollow elm, called by the 

 people in the vicinity, the Swallow tree. From a man who for 

 several years lived within twenty rods of it, I procured this in- 

 formation. He always thought the Swallows tarried in the tree 

 through the winter, and avoided cutting it down on that account. 

 About the first of May the Swallows came out of it in large 

 numbers, about 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 sun-down they returned in millions, circulating 

 two or three times round the tree, and then descending like a 

 stream into a hole about sixty feet from the ground. It was 

 customary for persons in the vicinity to visit this tree to observe 

 the motions of these birds: and when any persons disturbed 

 their operations by striking violently against the tree with their 

 axes, the Swallows would rush out in millions and with a great 

 noise. In November, 1791, the top of this tree was blown 



