THE JAMAICA PALM SWIFT. BIRDS. THE ACULEATED SWIFT. 



283 



it. He says " Over the grass-pieces and savannas of 

 the lowlands, the marshy flats at the seaward mouths 

 of the valleys, as well as the pens of the mountain 

 slopes, this swift-winged sylph daily urges its rushing 

 course, in parties of half a dozen to fifty or a hundred, 

 often mingled with other swallows, performing mazy 

 evolutions, circling and turning, crossing and recross- 

 ing, now darting aloft, now sweeping over the grass, 

 till the eye is wearied with attempting to follow them. 

 The length of its wings, which is scarcely less than 

 that of the whole hird, renders it a fleet and powerful 

 flyer ; an attentive observer will be able to identify it, 

 when mingling in aerial career, by a more frequent 

 recurrence of the rapid vibration of the wings, the 

 momentary winnowing, by which a fresh impetus is 

 obtained." But the most curious part of the history of 

 this bird is its nidification, which is described by Mr. 

 Gosse as follows. After mentioning the mode in which 

 his attention was called to a cocoa-nut palm, by his 

 noticing these swifts about it, some of them clinging 

 to masses of cotton projecting from the spathes, he 

 says, that although several other cocoa-nut trees were 

 about, none of them appeared to be tenanted, so that 

 this swift, like the preceding, is evidently sociable in 

 its habits. The first tree could not be climbed, but at 

 the foot of another " lay the dead fronds, spadices, and 

 spathes, which had been, in the course of growth, 

 thrown off, and in these were many nests. They were 

 formed chiefly in the hollow spathes, and were placed 

 in a series of three or four in a spathe, one above 

 another and agglutinated together, but with a kind of 

 gallery along the side, communicating with each. The 

 materials seemed only feathers and silk-cotton (the 

 down of the Bombax] ; the former very largely used, 

 the most downy placed within, the cotton principally 

 without, the whole felted closely and cemented together 

 by some slimy fluid, now dry, probably the saliva." 

 Mr. Gosse afterwards procured some nests of this bird, 

 which were composed almost exclusively of the silk- 

 cotton, and which, when separated, had a curious hairy 

 appearance, not unlike a doll's wig. These nests were 

 attached to the fronds of the cocoa palms, and resem- 

 bled in form those watch-pockets which are often 

 suspended at the head of a bed. 



THE ACULEATED SWIFT (Acantfiylift pelasgia) is a 

 native of the United States, where it is known as the 

 CHIMNEY SWALLOW, from its habit of building in the 

 chimneys in the summer, like our Common Swallow. It 

 is, however, a member of the family Cypselidae, although 

 differing from the species of the group previously 

 described, in the structure of the feet, which have three 

 toes in front and one behind ; this character also pre- 

 vails in the remaining species of this family. The 

 genus Acanthylis is distinguished from the other Swifts 

 by the peculiar construction of the tail, which is short 

 and somewhat rounded at the extremity, where the 

 shafts of the feathers project for some distance beyond 

 the barbs in the form of bare spines, which serve to 

 support the bird by pressing against the walls or other 

 objects to which it clings. These birds are also remark- 

 able for the great extent of their wings in comparison 

 with their bulk ; the Aculeated Swift of North America, 

 which measures only about four and a half inches in 



length, having wings extending twelve inches from 

 point to point ! The whole of the plumage is of a deep 

 sooty-brown colour, with the exception of the chin and 

 a line over the eye, which are of a dull white ; the tail 

 is black, and the short but muscular feet are of a 

 purple colour. 



The Aculeated Swift, like the majority of the insec- 

 tivorous birds of temperate climates, is migratory in its 

 habits, arriving in the United States about the end of 

 April or early in May, and taking its departure again 

 towards the south in the first or second week in Sep- 

 tember. On their arrival they appear to take up their 

 abode in multitudes in the interior of hollow trees, 

 from which they are seen emerging with great noise in 

 the morning, returning to then* resting place at night 

 in similar crowds. This circumstance led some of the 

 earlier observers of the habits of American birds to the 

 conclusion that these Swifts passed the winter in a 

 torpid state in these hollow trees, which hence acquired 

 the name of Swallow-trees, and at the first glance 

 there is some plausibility about this notion. Thus, 

 the birds were first observed about the trees early in 

 May, that is to say, in the spring, and they were last 

 seen entering in September; so that as the trees were 

 always respected by the settlers, it was perhaps natural 

 for them to suppose that the Swifts remained in this 

 comfortable abode throughout the winter. It was 

 found, however, even in Wilson's day, when the uppei 

 portion of one of these swallow-trees was blown down 

 in the winter, that there were no Swifts in the part ol 

 the tree broken off; and the birds never returned tc 

 the remaining stump. It is evident therefore, inde- 

 pendently of our knowledge of the migratory habits oi 

 birds of this kind, that these Swifts do not pass the 

 winter in their hollow trees, and that the notion that 

 tlrey did so originated simply from their making their 

 way directly, and in considerable numbers to their 

 ordinary places of abode, and departing again as sud- 

 denly in the autumn. Wilson supposes that before 

 the arrival of Europeans in America, this bird must 

 have built its nest in such hollow trees as those above 

 mentioned, and adds that this is still its practice in the 

 remote western districts where chimneys are compara- 

 tively unknown luxuries ; but in the older states, the 

 Aculeated Swift quits the rustic abode in which it takes 

 up its residence on its first arrival, and proceeds to 

 build its nest within the chimneys, which are, of course, 

 disused during the summer. The nest resembles those 

 of most Swifts, in being composed of small twigs and 

 similar articles united together by a glutinous matter. 

 It is small and shallow, and attached by one side to the 

 wall of the chimney ; its cavity has no soft lining of 

 feathers, and it usually contains four white eggs. The 

 birds generally have two broods in a season. They 

 feed their young with great care, and even continue 

 therr attentions to them throughout the night. Some- 

 times when there has been a long continuance of 

 heavy rain the nest becomes softened and loosened from 

 the wall, when it, with its contents, is precipitated to 

 the bottom. If it contains eggs they are of course 

 destroyed ; but when this accident happens after the 

 hatching of the young, these, although they may be 

 still blind, frequently climb up again into the chimney, 



