UP THE CHIMNEY. 251 



nation to depart. Finally he moved, and, after a 

 series of short upward flights, regained the sun- 

 light, and was seen no more for three quarters 

 of an hour. As the female settled herself upon 

 the nest a faint " cheeping " suggested that tiny 

 life was stirring beneath her breast. Her posi- 

 tion was the same which she took in the first in- 

 stance, her face being turned so directly toward 

 the north wall that her tail projected at right 

 angles from the nest. After seeing half a dozen 

 exchanges in position made by the birds, I was 

 satisfied that one parent, which I called the 

 female, always sat straight upon the nest, and 

 the other, which for the sake of distinguishing 

 them I called the male, always sat obliquely. 



To see only the bottom of the nest, yet to 

 know that within it lay young swifts which were 

 being fed in some way by their parents, was tan- 

 talizing. I recalled a former year, when I wished 

 to secure a swift's nest with its full set of eggs, 

 and so had kept watch of the nest ; not by climb- 

 ing to the chimney top and peering down, but by 

 raising a small mirror, by whose aid I had seen 

 the reflected nest from below. The mirror served 

 its purpose a second time. I lashed it to the tip 

 of a fishing rod and pushed the slender joint up 

 the chimney, adding first the middle joint and 

 then the but in order to bring the glass well 

 above the nest. Something white was in the 



