56 



CHIMNEY SWALLOW 



I have not observed a single individual. Though I was not so for- 

 tunate as to be present at their general assembly and council when 

 they concluded to take their departure, nor did I see them com- 

 mence their flight; yet I am fully persuaded that none of them re- 

 main in any of our chimneys here. I have had access to Ross's 

 chimney where they last resorted, and could see the lights out from 

 bottom to top, without the least vestige or appeai-ance of any birds. 

 Mary Ross also informed me, that they have had their chimneys 

 swept previous to their making fires, and though late in autumn no 

 birds have been found there. Chimneys also which have not been 

 used have been ascended by sweeps in the winter without discover- 

 ing any. Indeed all of them are swept every fall and winter, and 

 I have never heard of the Swallows being found in either a dead, 

 living or torpid state. As to the court-house it has been occupied 

 as a place of worship two or three times a week for several weeks 

 past, and at those times there has been fire in the stoves, the pipes 

 of them both going into the chimney, which is shut up at bottom by 

 brick work: and as the birds had forsaken that place, it remains 

 pretty certain that they did not return there; and if they did the 

 smoke I think would be deleterious to their existence ; especially 

 as I never knew them to resort to kitchen chimneys where fire was 

 kept in the summer. I think I have noticed them enter such chim- 

 neys for the purpose of exploring; but I have also noticed that they 

 immediately ascended, and went off, on finding fire and smoke.'' 



The Chimney Swallow is easily distinguished in air from the 

 rest of its tribe here, by its long wings, its short body, the quick 

 and slight vibrations of its wings, and its wide, unexpected diving 

 rapidity of flight ; shooting swiftly in various directions without any 

 apparent motion of the wings, and uttering the sounds tsip tsip tsip 

 tsee tsee in a hurried manner. In roosting, the thorny extremities 

 of its tail are thrown in for its support. It is never seen to alight 

 but in hollow trees or chimneys ; is always most gay and active in 

 wet and gloomy weather, and is the earliest abroad in morning, and 



