144 



CHIMNEY SWALLOW. 



This swallow, like all the rest of its tribe in the United 

 States, is migratory, arriving in Pennsylvania late in April 

 or early in May, and dispersing themselves over the whole 

 country wherever there are vacant chimneys in summer 

 sufBciently 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 Europeans in this country, when there were no such places 

 for their accommodation ? 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 im- 

 provements 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 

 lie 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 fragments 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 see 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 over- 

 throw the timber, and the numerous ready conveniences which 

 these new situations afford, are doubtless some of the advan- 



the strong feet. They present, in a beautiful manner, the scansorial 

 form among the Fissirostres ; one species, the Gh. senex (Gypselus senex, 

 Temm.), even feeds in the manner of the true climbers, running up 

 the steep rocks, assisted by its tail, in search of food. 



The group will contain a considerable number. We have them from 

 India, North and South America, and New Holland, but I am not 

 aware that Africa has yet produced any species. — Ed. 



