Dusky, Gray, and Slate-colored 
Their nest, which is a loosely woven twig lattice, made of 
twigs of trees, which the birds snap off with their beaks and carry 
in their beaks, is glued with the bird’s saliva or tree-gum into a 
solid structure, and firmly attached to the inside of chimneys, or 
hollow trees where there are no houses about.. Two broods ina 
season usually emerge from the pure white, elongated eggs. 
What a twittering there is in the chimney that the swifts 
appropriate after the winter fires have died out! Instead of the 
hospitable column of smoke curling from the top, a cloud of sooty 
birds wheels and floats above it. A sound as of distant thunder 
fills the chimney as a host of these birds, startled, perhaps, by some 
indoor noise, whirl their way upward. Woe betide the happy 
colony if a sudden cold snap in early summer necessitates the 
starting of a fire on the hearth by the unsuspecting householder! 
The glue being melted by the fire, ‘‘down comes the cradle, 
babies and all” into the glowing embers. A prolonged, heavy 
rain also causes their nests to loosen their hold and fall with the 
soot to the bottom. 
Thrifty New England housekeepers claim that bedbugs, 
commonly found on bats, infest the bodies of swifts also, which 
is one reason why wire netting is stretched across the chimney 
tops before the birds arrive from the South. 
Kingbird 
(Tyrannus tyrannus) Flycatcher family 
Called also: TYRANT FLYCATCHER; BEE MARTIN 
Length—8 inches. About two inches shorter than the robin. 
Male—Ashy black above ; white, shaded with ash-color, beneath. 
A concealed crest of orange-red on crown. Tail black, ter- 
minating with a white band conspicuous in flight. Wing 
feathers edged with white. Feet and bill black. 
Female—Similar to the male, but lacking the crown. 
Range—United States to the Rocky Mountains. British provinces 
to Central and South America. 
Migrations—May. September. Common summer resident. 
If the pugnacious propensity of the kingbird is the occasion 
of its royal name, he cannot be said to deserve it from any fine 
or noble qualities he possesses. He is a born fighter from the very 
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