164 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



>. small, however, that the young outgrow it long before they can fly and they have to climb out and cling to the 

 wall as do the old birds, propping themselves up with their tails. The tail feathers are stiff and tipped with spines, 

 somewhat similar to the woodpeckers, except there are no barbs at the tip and merely the shafts protrude. Swifts 

 never j>erch or descend to the ground as do other birds. 



Chimney swifts return from the south about the middle of April but where they have spent the winter is still 



amystery, 

 for the chim- 

 ney swift is 

 the one bird 

 in Eastern 

 North Amer- 

 ica whose 

 winter quar- 

 ters have not 

 yet been dis- 

 covered. It is 

 known that 

 they go as far 

 as Vera Cruz 

 and it is prob- 

 able that they 

 winter some- 

 where in Cen- 

 tral America 

 or Northern 

 South Amer- 

 ica, but it is 



A NEW DEPARTURE 



From nesting in hollow trees, the swifts adapted themselves 

 to chimneys and now the more modern silo attracts them. 

 Here the swift is clinging to the wall near the nest. 



A SCOTCH MOTHER 



Apparently the swifts despise comfort, for their shallow nests 

 of angular twigs are never lined and are so small that the bird 

 has to incubate in the awkward position here shown. 



impossible to distinguish them from the native swifts as 

 they soar high overhead and as yet none have been col- 

 lected. They are common in all parts of the East until 

 late September or October, when they suddenly disap- 

 pear. Just before this time and when they first appear 

 in the spring, they sometimes occur in flocks of thou- 

 sands and at dusk are seen circling about some tall chim- 

 ney before settling to roost. For a time, as they pitch 

 headlong into the chimney and again as they rise in the 

 morning, so numerous are they that they look like smoke 

 rising for several minutes. At other times of the year 

 they scatter and it is doubtful if more than one pair ever 

 nest in a single chimney, although pairs from adjacent 

 chimneys often fly in company and from the fact that 

 they are often seen in trios, it has been suggested that 

 they are polygamous. There is as yet, however, nothing 

 further to support this belief. Sometimes they sail with 

 the wings held high over the back but more often they 



fly with apparent alternate strokes of the wings and gain 

 such momentum that few if any birds fly faster. Thus 

 they circle back and forth through the hordes of midges 

 and mosquitoes, probably with their mouths open, for 

 they never seem to pursue any particular insect as do the 

 swallows. 



The three swifts found from the Rocky Mountains to 

 the Pacific are called the black swift, vaux swift and the 

 white-throated swift, the last being considerably larger 

 than the others and having the throat and breast white. 

 A most interesting discovery has recently been made in 

 connection with the black swift in that it frequently 

 remains dormant for days at a time in the crevices of 

 the rocks when the weather is cold and wet, in a sort of 

 hibernation, a most unusual circumstance among birds 

 which ordinarily require a constant supply of food to 

 maintain life. 



/"^ONSTANCE is 194 years old. Constance has seen 

 ^ ten Danish kings come and go. Constance is a Dan- 

 ish sailing vessel made of wood and will soon celebrate 1 * 

 her 200th anniversary of service. The Danish sailing 

 fleet, despite the ravages of the submarine, still has 16 

 wooden vessels each more than 100 years old. These 

 vessels average 414 registered tons. In March, 1916, 

 there were only four of these vessels more than 1,000 

 tons, but purchases abroad since that time have now in- 

 creased the number of wooden vessels to 25 which are 

 over 1,000 tons. 



(STANLEY R. AUGSPURGER and Roy Muncaster, 

 S* of the United States Forest Service, gave their lives 

 * for their country in the Tuscania disaster. During last 

 year Augspurger was employed as a field assistant in 

 timber surveys in District 6. His home was in Dayton, 

 Ohio. Muncaster was formerly a ranger on the Olympic 

 Forest. E. E. Harpham, formerly a scaler on the Olym- 

 pic, was rescued. 



T^HE Twentieth Engineers (Forest) has completed 

 * recruiting and no additional men are needed. 



