224 
NESTS AND EGGS OF 
Their vernal advent is marked with the same quietness, and is as much a 
source of mystery and surprise. 
Upon its arrival in the United States late in March, it diffuses itself 
in various directions throughout the country, reaching the Central and 
Northern States about the middle of April usually, hut, sometimes, when 
the season has been very much retarded, not before the beginning of the 
followins: month. Its entrance into Canada is not looked for until near 
the close of April — the birds apparently timing their movements with the 
sun’s northward advancement. From Virginia to Canada, along the 
Atlantic seaboard, and the same is true of our W estern States, where the 
presence of man is seen and felt, these dusky denizens of the air are wont 
to take up their abode. The chimneys of our houses, especially those that' 
are not called into constant requisition, afford them convenient and com- 
fortable quarters. So accustomed to their odd little ways and notions have 
we become, that on each recurrence of the breeding-season we naturally 
look for their coming with as much interest and pleasure as to that of a 
long absent friend. Their jolly, sociable disj)Osition wins our regard and 
esteem, and has so completely interwoven their fortunes with our own, that 
their loss would be keenly felt and universally bewailed. In habits they 
are widely different from their trans- Atlantic brethren, who display con- 
siderable shyness, and breed in caves, or ruined or deserted dwellings. 
Since the occupancy of this country by civilized beings, a most won- 
derful change has been effected in their behavior. Their primitive breed- 
ing p)laces have been exchanged for the cosy, soot-begrimmed chimney. 
To be sure there are localities where breeding is still carried on in hollow 
trees as of yore, but such places are now but occasionally occupied in the 
older parts of the country, and merely for roosting purposes. In certain 
portions of New Brunswick, according to Mr. George A. Boardman, birds 
still nest in decayed tree-hollows. Even where chimneys are to be found 
individuals have been known to select j^l^^ces remote therefrom. The 
writer last mentioned once met with a nest that was built against a board 
in an old log-house. It was not the lack of a chimney that conduced to 
