CHIMNEY SWALLOW. 433 



difficulty get up it. But then it was observed that their place of 

 nocturnal retirement was in another quarter of the town. " On 

 the whole, " continues Mr. Churchman, " I am of opinion, that 

 those who continue to roost at the court-house are male birds, 

 or such as are not engaged in the business of incubation, as that 

 operation is going on in almost every unoccupied chimney in 

 town. It is reasonable to suppose if they made use .of that at the 

 court-house for this purpose, at least some of their nests would 

 appear towards the top, as we find such is the case where but 

 few nests are in a place." 



In a subsequent letter Mr. Churchman Writes as follows: 

 " After the young brood produced in the different chimneys in 

 Easton had taken wing, and a week or ten days previous to 

 their total disappearance, they entirely forsook the court house 

 chimney, and rendezvoused in accumulated numbers in the 

 southernmost chimney of John Ross's mansion, situated perhaps 

 one hundred feet northeastward of the court house. In this last 

 retreat I several times counted more than two hundred go in of 

 an evening, when I could not perceive a single bird enter the 

 court-house chimney. I was much diverted one evening on 

 seeing a cat, which came upon the roof of the house, and placed 

 herself near the chimney, where she strove to arrest the birds 

 as they entered, without success; she at length ascended to the 

 chimney top and took her station, and the birds descended in 

 gyrations without seeming to regard grimalkin, who made fre- 

 quent attempts to grab them. I was pleased to see that they all 

 escaped her fangs. About the first week in the ninth month [Sep- 

 tember] the birds quite disappeared; since which I have not ob- 

 served a single individual. Though I was not so fortunate as to 

 be present at their general assembly and council when they con- 

 cluded to take their departure, nor did I see them commence 

 their flight; yet I am fully persuaded that none of them remain 

 in any of our chimneys here. I have had access to Ross's chim- 

 ney where they last resorted, and could see the lights out from 

 bottom to top, without the least vestige or appearance of any 

 birds. Mary Ross also informed me, that they have had their 



VOL. ii. 3 i 





