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The Chimney Swift 
“My investigation of the food of the species is complete to date, and 
I hope to prepare a publication on the bird before very long. I may 
state, however, that the bird’s food consists almost wholly of insects, and 
E a ts that beetles, flies and ants are the principal items. 
Harmful It gets many beetles (Scolytidae) , the most serious 
Insects enemies of our forests, when they are swarming, and 
takes also the old-fashioned potato-beetle ( Lema trilineata), the tarnished 
plant bug ( Lygus pratensis), and other injurious insects.” 
An extraordinary thing is the fact that we know little or nothing of 
this bird in its winter home. It is commonly stated that it winters in 
northern Mexico; but this appears not to be so. Dr. Wells W. Cooke, 
the highest authority on American bird-migration, refers to it (Bulletin 
185, U. S. Dept, of Agr., 1915) as an unsolved problem. “With troops 
of fledglings catching their winged prey as they go, and lodging by night 
in tall chimneys the flocks [of Swifts] drift slowly south, joining with 
other bands, until on the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico they be- 
come an innumerable host. Then they disappear. Did they drop to the 
Winter water, or hibernate in the mud, as was believed of old, 
Home their obliteration could not be more complete. In the 
Unknown last week in March a joyful twittering far overhead 
announces their return to the Gulf Coast, but their hiding-place during 
the intervening five months is still the Swifts’ secret.” 
In China and some neighboring countries, there are Swifts that build 
nests even more peculiar than the American species. No sticks or twigs 
are employed in their construction, the gummy saliva from the bird’s 
mouth being the only material used. These nests are much sought by 
the people of those countries as an article of food. They are built on 
the faces of sea-cliffs, or the walls of caves ; and are gathered and sold 
in the markets in large numbers as “edible birds’ nests.” To prepare 
them for the table they are cooked in the form of soup. 
Classification and Distribution 
The Chimney Swift belongs to the Order Macrochires, the Suborder 
Cypseli and the Family Macropodidae. Its scientific name is Chaetura 
pelagica. It resides in summer and breeds throughout all the United 
States, and within the southern border of Canada as far west as the 
eastern foothills of the Rocky Mountains and eastern Texas. Its winter 
home is not known. 
This and other Educational Leaflets are for sale, at 5 cents each, by the National Association of 
Audubon Societies, 1974 Broadway, New York City. Lists given on request. 
