SWALLOWS. 
271 
Saw a few bam-swallows also, this afternoon ; but most of these 
seem to have left us already. 
Monday, 28th . — About sunset this evening obsei-ved many 
night-hawks flying over the village. 
We happened once to see a large flight of these birds. We 
were travelling a short distance north of the MohaAvk, at this very 
date, the 28 th of August, when, about an hour before sunset, a 
number of larfye birds were seen rising from a wood to the east- 
Avard, all moving slowly in a loose, straggling flock, toAvard the 
south-Avest. They proved to be night-hawks ; and they continued 
passing at interA'als until an hour after sunset. They seemed to 
heed each other A-ery little, being seldom near together, but all 
were aiming in the same direction. We must have seen scA^eral 
hundreds of them, in the course of the tAvo hours they were in 
sight. 
Tuesday, 29th . — The swalloAVS have moved their parade-ground 
this evening. We missed them about the house, but found them 
wheeling OA'er the highway, near the bridge, the very spot where 
Ave fii-st saw them in the spring. 
Wednesday, 30th. — Walked in the woods. Observing an old 
branchless trunk of the largest size, in a striking position, where 
it looked like a broken column, Ave walked up to examine it. The 
shaft rose, Avithout a curve or a branch, to the height of perhaps 
forty feet, Avhere it had been abruptly shivered, probably in some 
storm. The tree Avas a chestnut, and the bark of a clear, unsul- 
lied gray ; walking round it, we saAV an opening near the ground, 
and to our surprise found the trunk hollow, and entirely charred 
Avithin, black as a chimney, from the root to the point Avhere it 
was broken oflf. It frequently happens that fire steals into the 
12 *' 
