CHIMNE Y SWALLOW. j 4 g 



tages. The choice they have made certainly bespeaks some- 

 thing more than mere unreasoning instinct, and does honour 

 to their discernment. 



The nest of this bird is of 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 small and 

 shallow, and attached by one side or edge to the wall, and is 

 totally destitute of the soft lining with which the others 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 resem- 

 blance 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 sharpness of their claws, at this tender age, being 

 remarkable. In this situation they continue to be fed for 

 perhaps a week or more. Nay, it is not uncommon for them 

 voluntarily to leave 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. 



When these birds first arrive in spring, and for a consider- 

 able time after, they associate together every evening in one 

 general rendezvous ; those of a whole district roosting together. 

 This place of repose, in the more unsettled parts of the country, 

 is usually a large hollow tree, open at top ; trees of that kind, 

 or swallow trees as they are usually called, having been 

 noticed in various parts of the country, and generally believed 



VOL. II. K 



