28? NESTS AND EOOS OP 



The Black Swift has been met with sparingly in the various regions cited in the 

 above habitat. Another common name for this bird Is "Black Cloud Swift." Com- 

 paratively little has bfeen ascertained concerning its general habits and its eggs 

 until recently. The general habits and characteristics of this bird are well-known, 

 tiut the construction of its nest and a full description of its eggs remain unpublished. 

 In the last two editions of this work I -quoted an article which bore evidences of ac- 

 curacy concerning the nesting and eggs of this species, but I am now convinced that 

 the writer was mistaken in his identification. Mr. A. W. Anthony, in the summer of 

 1883, found this species abundant in Colorado, nesting in the highest inaccessible' 

 crags, and nothing but that which was provided with wings could possibly reach 

 them. About Silvertbn a large colony had taken possession of a very high cliff, 

 making their appearance about June 20. Dr. A. K. Fisher saw a number of these , 

 birds about the cliffs near Trinidad, Colorado. Mr. Ridgway met with it in Nevada. 

 It undoubtedly occurs in suitable localities in the intervening regions, as the moun- 

 tains of Utah. It is said to be abundant at Lake Samish, Washington. Mr. Rollo H. 

 Beck, while hunting neai the rocky coast of Monterey county, California, in the 

 summer of 1894, shot a female Black Swift on June 29, containing a nearly devel- 

 oped egg in the oviduct. The shell was not yet formed and he had no means of 

 measuring it. In shape it resembled the egg of the Chimney Swift.* 



423. CHIMNEY SWIFT. Choetura pelagica (Linn.) Geog. Dist.— Eastern 

 North America, north to Labrador and in the interior to the Pur Countries; west to 

 the edge of the Great Plains. 



The progress of civilization has brought about conditions and causes which have 

 given rise to this bird's common and now appropriate name, Chimney Swift, or, as 

 it is probably better known, Chimney "Swallow." When the country was first set- 

 tled this species was known to breed only in the hollow trunks of forest trees, but as 

 soon, as the chimneys of dwellings erected by civilized man presented greater con- 

 venience and better security against enemies this bird forsook its primitive nest- 

 ing places, and now only in remote regions or wild portions of the country, where 

 natural facilitieE. are still afforded, it is found breeding in the hollows, of decaying 

 trees. A chemical analysis ot this bird's nest made for me by Professor Weber, 

 chemist of the Ohio State University, proves conclusively that the glue which these 

 birds use is not from the gum of any tree, but purely an animal prodsction. This 

 should set at rest the claims made by a number of writers in recent periodicals that 

 the glue of the Swift Is of a vegetable nature. The nest, as shown in our illustration, 

 is a beautiful semi-circular basket made of small dead twigs of nearly uniform length 

 and thickness, and when attached to the inside of a chimney is placed sufficiently 

 below the top to be protected from the rays of the sun. The twigs are broken from 

 trees by the birds while on the wing. They are all strongly cemented together and 

 fastened to the wall with the saliva of the birds. This glue-like substance dries and 

 hardens, and becomes so firm that, when the nest is separated from the sides of 

 chimneys, portions of the brick to which it is fastened often adhere to the structure. 

 My friend, Mr. Arnold Boyle, took a nest of this species from the inside of a barn in 

 Wyandot county, Ohio; its position was similar to that of the Barn Swallow. From 

 four to six narrowly elliptical, pure white eggs are deposited, ordinarily four. May 

 and June are the nesting months, and usually but one brood is reared in a season. 

 A set of four eggs, collected in the Adirondack region, Essex county. New York, June 

 27, measure .E2x.52, .81x.52, .84x.51, .82x.50; a set of five taken in Franklin county. 



• Seo Eer.dlre's Life Histories of N. A. Birds, Vol. II, pp. 175-177. 



