18 BIRDS THROUGH AN OPERA-GLASS. 



breath and wave their brooms in the air at their 

 escape from the dangers below. Though never 

 venturing near us the swifts come to live inside 

 our houses. Like the robin they are citizens, but 

 what a contrast ! 



Their feet are weak from disuse, and it is be- 

 lieved that they never light anywhere except in a 

 chimney or in a hollow tree, where they sometimes 

 go at night and in bad weather. They gather the 

 twigs they glue together for their nests while on 

 the wing, and their ingenuity in doing it shows 

 how averse they are to lighting. Audubon says : 

 " The chimney swallows are seen in great numbers 

 whirling around the tops of some decayed or dead 

 tree, as if in pursuit of their insect prey. Their 

 movements at this time are exceedingly rapid; 

 they throw their body suddenly against the twig, 

 grapple it with their feet, and by an instantaneous 

 jerk snap it off short, and proceed with it to the 

 place intended for the nest." 



V. 



CATBIRD. 



HIGH trees have an unsocial aspect, and so, as 

 Lowell says, "The catbird croons in the lilac- 

 bush," in the alders, in a prickly ash copse, a bar- 

 berry-bush, or by the side of the garden. In 

 Northampton one of his favorite haunts is an old 



