fHE OOLOGIST 



145 



.year, in a cat-tail tussoclv swamp at 

 Bridesbui J, Philadelphia County, Pa., 

 I found two nests close together in a 

 bici- tossock of "muskrat" grass. This 

 tussock was a toot high, growing in 

 water half a foot deep, and about fif- 

 teen inches in diameter across the 

 top, and the two nests were situated 

 on either side, only eight inches 

 apart, nestled snugly down in the 

 thick, waving grass. One was a new 

 nest, compact and substantially made, 

 and the other was a sham or decoy 

 nest, of small size, poorly and loosely 

 constructed and shallow; both were 

 probably built by the same birds and 

 were of grasses, lined with the same 

 kind of materials, but of a finer and 

 softer rniality. Neither nest was used. 



At thid locality, a local vernacular 

 name of the English Sparrow is En- 

 glish Rcedbird, and the bird is so call- 

 ed on t' nunt ' f its habit of associat- 

 ing witn me eedbird (Dolichonyx 

 aryzivorus) in i rge flocks in late 

 L:r,;nmer and ear' • tall on the marshes, 

 where the Rq. rds congregate at 

 this time in i .mense flocks in the 

 wild rice (Zi'-zania) or "Reed" as it 

 is locally called — hence the name 

 Reedbird — swamps to feed. The En- 

 glish Sparrow also devours the sweet 

 seeds of the reed and grow fat on it, 

 but they never seem to acquire that 

 degree of corpulency attained by the 

 Reedbird; nor are they as succulent 

 eating, being hardly palatable. Never- 

 theless, they are often shot, generally 

 by the ignorant, as Reedbirds, and by 

 genuine sportsmen for sport or food. 

 Pothunters kill all they can bag and 

 "bunch" them up with a string of 

 Reedbird, placing the imposters in- 

 side, and disposing of the whole as 

 the genuine delicious "Ricebird" or 

 "Reedies." 



Some few years ago, I remember 

 having read that the Chimney Swift 

 never nested or roosted in chimneys 



covered with caps, such as are com- 

 monly seen nowadays on many houses 

 in the suburbs of our cities and 

 towns, because the cap prevented the 

 bird's descent into the interior, and 

 such 1 believed to be the case until 

 one day in May, 1908. At this time, 

 while waiting for a trolley in the vil- 

 lage of Pensauhen, Camden County, 

 N. J., and while watching a circling 

 Swift, I saw it suddenly drop down in 

 the air when over a capped chimney 

 on a house, to a position parallel 

 with the top, where it poised or hover- 

 ed momentarily in the air, and then 

 darted in the hole and probably down 

 the stack — but of course I could not 

 see it do this; yet it undoubtedly did 

 so for it didn't come out the opposite 

 entrance. 



To say I was surprised at this man- 

 euvre would be putting it mildly. I 

 was amazed at the singular occur- 

 rence, but since then I have seen the 

 event repeated several times, and on 

 different occasions, but at no place 

 else than at that particular chimney. 



The chimney, built of bricks, pro- 

 truded about three feet above the roof 

 of the residence, and is about three 

 feet wide and eighteen inches thick, 

 with a flat stone cap two inches thick 

 placed on the top, with two entrances 

 or holes for draught and smoke, 

 about a foot square on the two small 

 sides, which was of large enough size 

 for the swallows to go in and out. 

 The cap formed a "roof" over the 

 birds' home. Only one or two Swifts 

 were ever seen to enter the chimney, 

 and probably but one pair occupied 

 it, but 1 never saw a bird fly out. Has 

 anybody else ever witnessed such a 

 l)erformance? 



In a paper of mine, entitled "Late 

 Nesting of Vireo olivaceous" and pub- 

 lished in the OOLOGIST for Decem- 

 ber, 1904, there occurs an error, 

 which I have intended to correct dur^ 



