THE CHIMNEY SWIFT. 



( Chatura pelagic a. ) 



The range of these well-known birds 

 is quite extensive for it includes North 

 America east of the Great Plains, from 

 the Fur Countries southward. They 

 breed from Florida and Texas north- 

 ward and seemingly winter south of 

 the United States. They are very com- 

 monly called Chimney Swallows and 

 while there is a general resemblance 

 between them and the swallows they 

 are much more closely related to the 

 Whippoorwills and Hummingbirds and 

 are now classed between these two 

 groups. The Swifts are remarkably 

 gregarious excepting during the nest- 

 ing season. They are frequently con- 

 gregated in such large flocks as to 

 quite darken areas underneath them. 

 This social habit also extends to their 

 period of rest for they are known to 

 roost together in certain large hollow 

 trees and even in large chimneys which 

 have become popular with them as 

 lodging places. Audubon and Wilson, 

 as well as more recent writers on the 

 habits of birds, record instances where 

 very large numbers of these birds have 

 resorted to large hollow trees which 

 served them as a roosting place from 

 which they would issue at the break 

 of day with such a rush as to create 

 a loud noise. Mr. Langille, in his 

 book "Our Birds' in Their Haunts," 

 speaks of one very interesting instance 

 which came under his observation. It 

 was an enormous brick chimney be- 

 longing to a large stone building which 

 was once used as a distillery. Around 

 the top of this towering chimney he 

 saw ''an immense cloud of many hun- 

 dred, perhaps, thousands, of Chimney 

 Swifts." As he saw them, they were 

 "whirling and gyrating in swift evolu- 

 tions, the whole body moving in the 

 same direction like a feathered whirl- 

 pool, their wings beating with aston- 

 ishing rapidity, and the volume of their 

 sharp twitter being almost deafening." 

 The black cloud while still whirling 

 became more dense as it neared the 



chimney-top and every few minutes 

 a section of the great host dropped 

 into it. Mr. Langille watched them 

 until the greater number had thus dis- 

 appeared. He says that this was a 

 common scene about the old distillery 

 and that it may have occurred from 

 the time of the arrival of these birds 

 in the spring to the time of their de- 

 parture in the fall. As he thought the 

 chimney might be the breeding place 

 of the Swifts, he watched the inside 

 from an opening which gave a full 

 view of the whole interior but did not 

 at any time detect a nest. He believed 

 that the chimney was simply a grand 

 place of rendezvous. As it was no- 

 ticeable that the number which fre- 

 quented the chimney was reduced dur- 

 ing the time of nidification, it seemed 

 probable that it was then used as a 

 general resort for the males. Mr. 

 Ridgeway in his "Ornithology of Illi- 

 nois" sites an instance of where a 

 sycamore tree which was hollow its 

 entire length was used as a lodging 

 place by the Swifts. The birds com- 

 menced to assemble around the top of 

 this tree about half past seven in the 

 evening until three or four thousand 

 had arrived, when they rapidly disap- 

 peared beneath the foliage. It was 

 said that the tree had been thus used 

 by the Swifts for nine successive 

 years. In the morning, the birds left 

 their resting place at sunrise. The 

 tree was deserted at the appearance 

 of frost in the fall. 



The family of Swift's is cosmopolitan 

 in range, but east of the Rocky Moun- 

 tains, like its nearest relatives, the 

 family of hummingbirds, it is repre- 

 sented by but one species, the Chimney 

 Swift. Before the advent of man and 

 his habitations and factories with their 

 chimneys, the Swifts nested altogether 

 in hollow trees, selecting, as a rule, 

 those with a large hollow trunk which 

 had an opening at the top like a 

 chimney. At the present time, the 



107 



