CHIMNEY SWALLOW. 237 



found in either a dead, living or torpid state. As to the court-house it 

 has been occupied as a place of worship two or three times a week for 

 several weeks past, and at those times there has been fire in the stoves, 

 the pipes of them both going into the chimney, which is shut up at 

 bottom by brick work : and as the birds had forsaken that place, it 

 remains pretty certain that they did not return there ; and if they did 

 the smoke I think would be deleterious to their existence ; especially as 

 I never knew them to resort to kitchen chimneys where fire was kept in 

 the summer. I think I have noticed them enter such chimneys for the 

 purpose of exploring ; but I have also noticed that they immediately 

 ascended, and went ofi", on finding fire and smoke." 



The Chimney Swallow is easily distinguished in air from the rest of 

 its tribe here, by its long wings, its short body, the quick and slight 

 vibrations of its wings, and its wide, unexpected diving rapidity of 

 flight ; shooting swiftly in various directions without any apparent 

 motion of the wings, and uttering the sounds tsip tsip tsip tsee tsee in a 

 hurried manner. In roosting, the thorny extremities of its tail are 

 thrown in for its support. It is never seen to alight but in hollow trees 

 or chimneys ; is always most gay and active in wet and gloomy weather, 

 and is the earliest abroad in morning, and latest out in evening of all 

 our Swallows. About the first or second week in September, they move 

 oflF to the south, being often observed on their route accompanied by 

 the Purple Martins. 



When we compare the manners of these birds while here with the 

 account given by Capt. Henderson of those that winter in such multi- 

 tudes at Honduras, it is impossible not to be struck with the resem- 

 blance ; or to suppress our strong suspicions that they may probably be 

 the very same. 



This species is four inches and a half in length, and twelve inches in 

 extent! altogether of a deep sooty brown, except the chin and line 

 over the eye, which are of a dull white ; the lores, as in all the rest, 

 are black ; bill extremely short, hard and black, nostrils placed in a 

 slightly elevated membrane ; legs- covered with a loose purplish skin ; 

 thighs naked and of the same tint ; feet extremely muscular ; the three 

 fore toes nearly of a length ; claws very sharp ; the wing when closed 

 extends an inch and a half beyond the tip of the tail, which is rounded, 

 and consists of ten feathers scarcely longer than their coverts ; their 

 shafts extend beyond the vanes, are sharp pointed, strong, and very 

 elastic, and of a deep black color ; the shafts of the wing quills are also 

 remarkably strong ; eye black, surrounded by a bare blackish skin or 

 orbit. 



The female can scarcely be distinguished from the male by her 

 plumage. 



