HIRUXDO PELASGIA- 
28 
a mass of decayed feathers, with a small admixture 
brownish dust and the exiiviw of various insects. Th« 
feathers were so rotten, that it was impossible to 
determine to what kind of birds they belonged. Thef 
ivere less than those of the pigeon ; and the largest o' 
them were like the pinion and tail feathers of tb* 
swalloAv. I examined cjirefully this astonishing colleO" 
tion, in the hope of finding the bones and bills, bo* 
could not distinguish any. The tree, Avith some remains 
of its ancient companions lying around, was of a growtb 
preceding that of the neig-hbouring fore.st. Near ib 
and even out of its mouldering ruins, grow thriftf 
trees of a size which indicate two or three huudrcil 
years of age.”* 
Such are the usual roosting places of the chimne.f 
swallow in the more thinly settled parts of the couuti’J'' 
In towns, however, they are differently sitimted, and '* 
is matter of curiosity to observe that they frequentl.^ 
select the court-house chimney for their general pla(^ 
of rendezvous, as being usually more central, and leS* 
liable to interruption during the night. I might eniimc' 
rate many plapes where this is their practice. Bein^ 
in the town of Reading, Pennsylvania, in the month 
August, I took notice of sixty or eighty of these birds 
a little before evening, amusing themselves by ascend* 
ing and descending the chimney of the court-hous^ 
tliere. I was told, that in the early part of snmmet' 
they were far more numerous at that p-articular spo*' 
On the 20th of May, in returning from an excursion 
the Great Pine swamp, I spent part of the day in tb* 
town of Easton, where I was informed by my respected 
friend, Mordecai Churchman, cashier of the bank thcr* 
and one of the people called quakers, that the chimnej 
swallows of Easton had selected the like situation' 
and that, from the windows of his house, ivhich standi 
nearly oppo.sitc to the court-house, I might, in an hold 
or two, witness their whole manwuvres. 
I accepted the invitation with pleasure. Accordingl.f' 
* HAaais’s Journal, p. 180. 
