CHIMNEY SWIFT. 17 



His tail is, of itself, an acute-angled triangle ter- 

 minating merely in bristles ; and his wings look 

 as if made of skin stretched on a frame, bat 

 fashion, instead of being of feathers. 



He twitters in a sharp chippering way as he 

 flutters through the air and picks up flies, saying, 

 as Mr. Burroughs puts it, " chippy- chippy-chirio, 

 not a man in Dario can catch a chippy-chippy- 

 chirio." And you are inclined to believe the 

 boast such zigzag darting, such circling and 

 running! The men of Dario would need seven 

 league wings to keep up with him, and then, after 

 a lightning race, when just ready to throw their 

 pinch of salt, with a sudden wheel the chippy- 

 chirio would dart down a chimney and disappear 

 from sight. 



And what a noise these swifts do make in the 

 chimneys ! If you ever had a room beside one of 

 their lodging-houses you can testify to their " noc- 

 turnal habits during the nesting season." Such 

 chattering and jabbering, such rushing in and 

 scrambling out ! If you only could get your spy- 

 glass inside the chimney! Their curious little 

 nests are glued against the sides like tiny wall 

 pockets; and there the swifts roost, or rather 

 hang, clinging to the wall, side by side, like little 

 sooty bats. Audubon says that before the young 

 birds are strong enough to fly they clamber up 

 to the mouths of the chimneys as the pitifully tri- 

 umphant chimney-sweeps used to come up for a 



