360 CHIMNEY SWALLOW. 
This Swallow, like a1 the rest of its tribe in the United States, is 
migratory, arriving in Pennsylvania late in April or early in May, and 
dispersing themselves cver the whole country wherever there are 
vacant chimneys in summer sufficiently high and convenient for their 
accommodation. In no other situation with us are they observed at 
present to build. This circumstance naturally suggests the query, 
Where did these birds construct their nests before the arrival of Euro- 
peans in this country, when there were no such places for their accom- 
modation? I would answer, Probably in the same situations in which 
they still continue to build in the remote regions of our western forests, 
where European improvements of this kind are scarcely to be found, 
namely, in the hollow of’a tree, which in some cases has the nearest 
resemblance to their present choice, of any other. One of the first 
settlers in the state of Kentucky informed me, that he cut down a 
large, hollow, beech tree, which contained forty or fifty nests of the 
Chimney Swallow, most of which, by the fall of the tree, or by the 
weather, were lying at the bottom of the hollow; but sufficient frag- 
ments remained, adhering to the sides of the tree, to enable him to 
number them. They appeared, he said, to be of many years’ standing. 
The present site which they have chosen must, however, hold out 
many more advantages than the former, since we sce that, in the whole 
thickly settled parts of the United States, these birds have uniformly 
adopted this new convenience, not a single pair being observed to 
prefer the woods. Security from birds of prey and other animals — 
from storms that frequently overthrow the timber, and the numerous 
ready conveniences which these new situations afford, are doubtless 
some of the advantages. The choice they have made certainly be- 
speaks something more than mere unreasoning instinct, and does 
honor to their discernment. 
The nest of this bird is of a singular construction, being formed of 
very small twigs, fastened together with a strong, adhesive glue or 
gum, which is secreted by two glands, one on each side of the hind 
head, and mixes with the saliva. With this glue, which becomes hard 
as the twigs themselves, the whole nest is thickly besmeared. The 
nest itself is sma]! and shallow, and attached by one side or edge to 
the wall, and is totally destitute of the soft lining with which the oth- 
ers are so plentifully supplied. The eggs are generally four, and 
white. This Swallow has two broods in the season. The young are 
fed at intervals during the greater part of the night, —a fact which I 
have had frequent opportunities of remarking, both here and in the 
Mississippi Territory. The noise which the old ones make, in passing 
up and down the funnel, has some resemblance to distant thunder. 
When heavy and long-continued rains occur, the nest, losing its hold, 
is precipitated to the bottom. This disaster frequently happens. The 
eggs are destroyed; but the young, though blind, (which they are for 
a considerable time,) sometimes scramble up along the vent, to which 
they cling like squirrels, the muscularity of their feet, and the sharp- 
ness of their claws, at this tender age, beng remarkable. In 
this situation, they continue to be fed for perhtps a week or more. 
Nay, it is not uncommon for them voluntarily to eave the nest long 
before they are able to fly, and to fix themselves on the wall, where 
they are fed until able to hunt for themselves. 
