The Vanx Swift 
sycamore. In Hum¬ 
boldt County, where 
these birds are probably 
more nearly common 
than anywhere else in 
the State, Redwood 
stubs are used. A nest 
found by Mr. Franklin 
J. Smith, in the summer 
of 1905, was composed 
entirely of pine needles 
instead of twigs. In this 
case, also, the bird had 
descended to such a 
depth, in a thirty foot 
stub, that the nest was 
only two feet above the 
ground. 
Almost invariably 
the birds nest within 
twenty inches or such a 
matter of the bottom of 
the cavity, no matter 
how elevated the orifice. 
And, since the forces of 
disintegration are at 
their feeblest when fur¬ 
thest removed from air, 
the soft punk wood at 
the bottom of these 
shafts avails to preserve 
the not infrequently 
dropped eggs. 
The Vaux Swift also 
nests, according to Mr. 
C. Irvin Clay, of Eureka, in the stumps of logged-off redwood 
lands. The birds enter by weather fissures, and since the stumps 
are almost always undermined by fire, it sometimes happens that 
the nest is found beneath the level of the ground. Another investi¬ 
gator, Mr. John M. Davis, finds that if the birds are robbed early in the 
season they will repeat in the same tree, or in one closely neigh¬ 
boring. Mr. Davis has a few pets, “old hens,” who remember him 
Taken in Humboldt County 
Photo by the Author 
THE LADDER OF ILLUSION 
IT LED THE AUTHOR UP AN SO-FOOT STUB AND HALF AS FAR DOWN INSIDE, BUT IT YIELDED 
ONLY AN “EMPTY” 
985 
