182 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



the wing, the bird breaking them off with its beak while flying past. Before the 

 country was well settled the Chimney Swift built in hollow trees, attaching its 

 nest to the inside walls, and in sparsely settled regions it does so still to some 

 extent; but now, wherever they can avail themselves of an unused chimney, 

 no matter of what material it is constructed, they do so, both for nesting and 

 roosting purposes. It seems to me that they are gradually changing again more 

 and more from the chimney to the inside of barns and outhouses, attaching their 

 nests to the sides of rough, unplaned boards, near the roof. Such sites are more 

 protected from storms, and certainly much cleaner, and the birds appear to have 

 found this out, and act accordingly. 



Several pairs frequently nest in company, and it is amusing to see them, 

 after circling over the top of the chimney, suddenly drop down perpendicu- 

 larly, often from considerable heights, and disappear Avithin. Hundreds are 

 known to roost in the taller chimneys of some abandoned factories in many of 

 our large cities. I have also seen it stated that this species occasionally nests 

 in chimneys which are in use, but no such instance has come under my own 

 observations. Throughout the more northern portions of its range the Chim- 

 ney Swift rarely commences laying before the second week in June; four or 

 five eggs are generally laid to a set (rarely six) and usually an egg is deposited 

 each day. In chimneys the nests are ordinarily glued to the sides, from 5 to 

 12 feet below the top. 



Few birds are more devoted to their young than the Chimney Swift, and 

 instances have been recorded where the parent was seen to enter chimneys in 

 burning houses, even after the entire roof was a mass of flames, preferring to 

 perish with its offspring rather than to forsake them. I have recently seen 

 in "Forest and Stream" (September 15, 1894, p. 224), another most remarkable 

 proof of affection for its young; want of space prevents me from quoting it 

 entire. The writer states that fully a month after the Chimney Swifts had 

 departed on their southern migration he heard a familiar twitter in the chimney, 

 and taking out the old-fashioned fireboard found a full-grown bird lying upon 

 the hearth. Looking more closely, he discovered that it was fastened by a 

 horsehair wrapped aroimd its leg to the nest, which had fallen down with it. 

 He says: "His anxious mother, who had cast in her lot with him, to remain and 

 to die with him, for the time of insects was about gone, came into the chimney 

 and actually waited beside me while I snipped the strong hair and released him. 

 It was an hour or more before he gained the use of his legs and learned what his 

 mother was teaching him by flying up and down in the chimney, and then they 

 both started on their lonesome flight to the far south." This instance certainly 

 shows a tender side of bird nature, and such instances are far more common 

 than they appear to be, if we could only see them. The young are fed by 

 regurgitation. 



The eggs of the Chimney Swift are pure white in color and unspotted; 

 they are cylindrical ovate in shape; the shell is fine grained, rather thin, and 

 moderately glossy. 



