CHIMNEY SWALLOW. 
147 
continue to roost during the whole summer, and from which 
they regularly depart about the middle of September. From 
other circumstances, it appears probable, that some of these 
trees have been for ages the summer rendezvous or general 
roosting place of the whole Chimney Swallows of an extensive 
district. Of this sort I conceive the following to be one, which 
is thus described by a late traveller to the westward : — 
Speaking of the curiosities of the state of Ohio, the writer 
observes fi£ In connection with this, I may mention a large 
collection of feathers found within a hollow tree which I 
examined, with the Rev. Mr Story, May 18th, 1803. It is 
in the upper part of Waterford, about two miles distant from 
the Muskingum. A very large sycamore, which, through 
age, had decayed and fallen down, contained in its hollow 
trunk, five and a half feet in diameter, and for nearly fifteen 
feet upwards, a mass of decayed feathers, with a small admix- 
ture of brownish dust, and the exuviae of various insects. The 
feathers were so rotten, that it was impossible to determine to 
what kinds of birds they belonged. They were less than those 
of the Pigeon ; and the largest of them were like the pinion 
and tail-feathers of the Swallow. I examined carefully this 
astonishing collection, in the hope of finding the bones and 
bills, but could not distinguish any. The tree, with some 
remains of its ancient companions lying around, was of a 
growth preceding that of the neighbouring forest. Near it, 
and even out of its mouldering ruins, grow thrifty trees of a 
size which indicate two or three hundred years of age.” # 
Such are the usual roosting places of the Chimney Swallow 
in the more thinly settled parts of the country. In towns, 
however, they are differently situated, and it is matter of 
curiosity to observe, that they frequently select the court- 
house chimney for their general place of redezvous, as 
being usually more central, and less liable to interruption 
during the night. I might enumerate many places where 
* Harris’s Journal, p. 180. 
