WAYS OF NATURE 
no change of habit. She still snips off the small diy 
twigs from the tree-tops and glues them together, and 
to the side of the chimney, with her own glue. The 
soot is a new obstacle in her way, that she does not 
yet seem to have learned to overcome, as the rains 
often loosen it and cause her nest to fall to the bot- 
tom. She has a pretty way of trying to frighten you 
off when your head suddenly darkens the opening 
above her. At such times she leaves the nest and 
clings to the side of the chimney near it. Then, 
slowly raising her wings, she suddenly springs out 
from the wall and back again, making as loud a 
drumming with them in the passage as she is capa- 
ble of. If this does not frighten you away, she re- 
peats it three or four times. If your face still hovers 
above her, she remains quiet and watches you. 
What a creature of the air this bird is, never 
touching the ground, so far as I know, and never 
tasting earthly food! The swallow does perch now 
and then and descend to the ground for nesting- 
material; but the swift, I have reason to believe, 
even outrides the summer storms, facing them on 
steady wing, high in air. The twigs for her nest she 
gathers on the wing, sweeping along like children on 
a “merry-go-round” who try to seize a ring, or to do 
some other feat, as they pass a given point. If the 
swift misses the twig, or it fails to yield to her the 
first time, she tries again and again, each time mak- 
ing a wider circuit, as if to tame and train her steed 
9 
