33 



while hovering in the air; I have on numerous occasions 

 seen them secure nesting material in this way but never, 

 except twice, did I see them alight on the ground to pick 

 up pieces. 



The inside of the chimney, at the point selected, is 

 smeared with glutinous saliva and the little twig covered 

 with the same; each tiny stick is. added in this manner un- 

 til the nest projects from the wall for two or three inches 

 and the interior is an inch deep. It makes a very strong little 

 home when properly made. Often, however, they fail to 

 make the front wall sufficiently high so that some of the 

 eggs roll or are pushed out by the sitting bird. 



The eggs, white and from three to five in number, require 

 incubating for nearlj' three weeks before they hatch. The 

 young birds remain in the chimney for nearly a month longer 

 before they are able to venture out on their wings. So the 

 nesting of swifts is a slow process requiring about two 

 months, while the ordinary insectivorous bird will get its 

 little ones out of the nest sometimes within a month from 

 the time the foundation was first commenced. 



Long before the little swifts are able to fly they get 

 exercise by climbing about the inside of their chimney- 

 home. A pair of swifts always built their nest directly op- 

 posite the stove-pipe opening in the chimney of an old 

 country house. I have often removed the cap to look at the 

 eggs or, later, to see the four little swifts clinging to the 

 chimney directly under the nest. They are nimble little 

 things and seldom lose their hold. Sometimes they do, 

 and fall to the bottom of the chimney but, by the aid of the 

 wings, their sharp little claws and their spiney tails, they 

 can climb to the nest again. If you have examined Chim- 

 ney Swifts closely, you probably have noticed that the 

 shafts of the tail feathers project beyond the webs making 

 sharp little spines that are of great assistance to the birds 

 in their manner of living. 



As it is obviously impossible for a bird to fly upwards in 



