256 BIRDS OF ONTAKIO. 



quickly, with a few bold strokes of their long, pointed wings, they will 

 rise to the former height, and dash hither and thither as before. 



Poets, in all ages, have sung the praises of their favorite birds, 

 and even to-day, from the unromantic plains of Chatham come the 

 following lines on the habit of the Nighthawk, just described : 



" With half closed wings and quivering boom, 

 Descending through the deepening gloom, 

 Like plnnunet falling from the sky, 

 Where some poor moth may vainly try 



A goal to win — 

 He holds him with his glittering eye 



And scoops him in." 



Towards the end of August, when the first frosts begin to cut off 

 their supply of insect food, large gatherings of Nighthawks may be 

 seen in the evenings moving toward the .south-west, not in regular 

 order like ducks or pigeons, l)ut skimming, darting and crossing 

 each other in every imaginable direction, and still with a general 

 tendencv toward the south, till darkness hides them from our view. 



SUBOKDEK CYPSELI. fcJWlF'JS. 



Family MICROPODID^. Swifts. 



Subfamily CH^TURIN^. Spixe-t.mled Swifts. 



Gen-US CH^TURA Stephens. 



CH^TIIRA PELAGICA (Lixx.). 



182. Chimney Swift. (423) 



Sooty brown with faint greenish gloss above ; below, paler, becoming gray 

 on the throat ; wings, black. Length, about 5 ; wing, the same ; tail, 2 or less. 



Hab. — Eastern North America, north to Labrador and the Fur Countries, 

 west to the Plains, and passing south of the United States in winter. 



Nest, a basket of twigs glued together, and to the side of the chimney or 

 other support by the saliva of the bird, 

 s, four or five, pure white. 



The Swift is a late comer, and while here seems ever anxious to 

 make up for lost time, being constantly on the wing, darting about 

 with great rapidity, sometimes high overhead, sometimes skimming 

 the surface of the pond, often so closely^ as to be able to sip from the 

 water as it passes over it, or snap up the insects which hover on the 

 surface. 



