86 The Chimney Swift 



fell into a deep sleep, lasting until spring was well 

 advanced. Others went still farther beyond the bounds 

 of reason in declaring that the swifts descended to the 

 bottom of rivers, ponds, and lakes, where, during cold 

 weather, they buried themselves in the mud with the 

 catfish, the eels, and the snapping turtles. It is sur- 

 prising how long such fairy tales chng to a species, for 

 less than a year ago an old lady told me, that when she 

 was a girl the "chimney swallows" from all the sur- 

 rounding country collected at her father's mill pond, 

 and then at night, when no one knew it, "they dove to 

 the bottom of the pond and remained there until the 

 cowslips came up." 



Our chimney swift, in common with the other 

 species of the family, has remarkable powers of flight, 

 the estimated speed being from eighty to one hundred 

 and ten miles an hour. This wonderful speed is 

 attained by only a few of our birds. The swift is 

 more often seen flying in the morning or late after- 

 noon, and it apparently enjoys wet and gloomy 

 weather more than the sunshine. The swift, like 

 the swallow, feeds on the wing and its movements are 

 swift and graceful, as it flies to and fro over its favor- 

 ite feeding grounds. At times the wings vibrate very 

 rapidly; then again the movement is but slight, pro- 

 ducing a series of glides through the air, beautiful to 



