CHIMNEY SWIFT OR SWALLOW. 
609 
and bifid at tip. Feet very short, toes divided, hind toe shortest, versa- 
tile, generally directed forward ; nails retractile, channeled beneath. 
Wings extremely long, 1st primary a little shorter than the 2d, which 
is longest. Tail of 10 feathers. 
The sexes and young nearly alike in plumage ; with the moult 
annual. The Swifts , live still more in the air than the Swallows, 
generally flying at great elevations ; they flap their wings only at in- 
tervals, and appear as if sailing in the atmosphere in wide circles. 
They are rarely seen at rest, and then upon elevated places, but nev- 
er on the ground. They make their nests in the clefts of rocks, in 
ruins, and in chimneys, some choosing a plane surface on which to 
rest the fabric ; in others the materials are perpendicularly aggluti- 
nated. The foreign species employ soft substances for the nest, 
often pilfered from the Sparrow. In ours, twigs only are used ; in 
either, the materials are attached together by a viscous substance 
secreted from the stomach of the bird, which acquires hardness and 
consistence in drying. They pass the greater part of the day in 
their roosting-places. The eggs, 2 to 4, are spotless, and white. Spe- 
cies are spread over the whole globe. 
CHIMNEY SWIFT or SWALLOW. 
( Cypselus pelasgius , Temm. Hirundo pelasgia , Wilson, v. p. 48. 
pi. 39. fig. 1. Phil. Museum, No. 7663.) 
Sp. Charact. — Sooty -brown ; chin and line over the eye dull whit- 
ish ; wings extending far beyond the tail ) tail even, with the 
feathers mucronate. 
This singular bird, after passing the winter in tropical 
America, arrives in the Middle and Northern States late 
in April or early in May. Their migrations extend, at 
least, to the sources of the Mississippi, where they were 
observed by Mr. Say. More social than the foreign spe- 
cies, which frequent rocks and ruins, our Swift takes ad- 
vantage of unoccupied and lofty chimneys, their original 
roost and nesting situation being tall gigantic hollow 
trees, such as the elm and button-wood (j Plat anus). The 
nest is formed of slender twigs, neatly interlaced, some- 
what like a basket, and connected sufficiently together 
