THE OOLOGIST 



185 



tion is practiced during the summer 

 months, and at the time much of the 

 spraying with poisonous mixtures is 

 done, any killing of birds would be 

 readily detected, but no reports of 

 dead birds as a result of spraying 

 the trees has ever been made from the 

 large apple districts where most of the 

 arsenate of lead is done. In orchards 

 where corn crops are grown or where 

 the natural growth of alfalfa, brown 

 clover, wild oats, etc., is allowed to 

 get its growth before plowing, the 

 forage is often mowed as wanted, and 

 fed to the stock regardless of the fact 

 that the evidence of arsenate of lead 

 spray is visible. If any bad effects 

 have ever appeared among the farm 

 animals, they have not been made pub- 

 lic. So it appears that in this case at 

 least some over zealous and senti- 

 mental bird lover has started a story 

 which has been evolved from pure 

 imagination and with no foundation in 

 fact. W. A. Strong. 



San Jose, Cal. 



The Chimney Swift. 



By Earle Moffett, Marshall, Tex. 



The Chimney Swift, or, as it is prob- 

 ably better known, among the people 

 of the South as the Chimney "Sweep- 

 er" or Chimney "Swallow," is a sooty, 

 brownish black bird, measuring about 

 51/^ inches long, and has long, pointed 

 wings, which is characteristic of the 

 Swift family. Instead of the tail feath- 

 ers being rounded, as in the case of 

 most birds, they taper to a point, or 

 in other words, the feathers are slight- 

 ly rounded, with the main stem of the 

 feather protruding about l-8th of an 

 inch from the end. This acts as a 

 prop, which enables them to stick to 

 the sides of the chimney. It serves 

 them much in the same way that 

 climbers serve a telephone lineman. 



These birds build a nest which looks 

 very much like a beautiful little bas- 



ket, being semi-circular in sliape and 

 made of small dead twigs, nearly 

 about 2 inches long and lield together 

 and to sides of chimney with a glutin- 

 ous saliva, which flows from the birds 

 mouth. 



When the glue dries and hardens, it 

 becomes so firm that when the nest is 

 pulled loose from the wall of the 

 chimney, pieces of mortar and hard 

 soot to which it is fastened often ad- 

 hers to the structure. The nest is 

 placed down the chimney usually about 

 9 feet. Most of the nests I have found 

 were placed on the east wall of the 

 chimney. 



I have never seen the Chimney 

 Swift light on a limb, chimney, twig 

 or anything else; but it catches its 

 food while on the wing, which con- 

 sists mainly of insects, and will come 

 glidding down over the surface of a 

 lake or pond like an aeropiane, mak- 

 ing a landing, and at the same time 

 will have his mouth slightly open, 

 keeping about 2 or 3 feet over the 

 vvatfr. Then suddenly he will barely 

 hit the water and scoop up enougli 

 wuier to quench his thirst. Sometimes 

 they will miss getting the water, and 

 then will go back and make another 

 attempt. They also coUect twigs for 

 the nest on the wing. In flying by the 

 dead tops of trees, the bird will pause 

 p few seconds in the air, (the same as 

 Hummingbird) so as to break a little 

 twig off with its bill. Often he >^ill 

 miss the twig and circle around and 

 try it again, keeping thi? up until he 

 succeeds in breaking the twig off. 



The Chimney Swift begins to lay 

 the first week in June. Now about 

 collecting their eggs and nest, it is 

 merely a gambling game after all. I 

 collect about five sets out of every 

 ten that I try for. The best way I 

 know of to get them, is to get a long 

 pole, say about 18 feet long; find a 

 cigar box and tack a piece of tin on 



