28 
HJRUNDO PELASGIA. 
a mass of decayed feathers, with a small admixture of 
brownish dust and the exuviae of various insects. The 
feathers were so rotten, that it was impossible to 
determine to what kind 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 collec- 
tion, in the hope of finding the hones and bills, hut 
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 rendezvous, as being usually more central, and less 
liable to interruption during the night. I might enume- 
rate many places where this is their practice. Being 
in the town of Reading, Pennsylvania, in the month of 
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-house 
there. I was told, that in the early part of summer, 
they were far more numerous at that particular spot. 
On the 20th of May, in returning from an excursion to 
the Great Pine swamp, I spent part of the day in the 
town of Easton, where I was informed by my respected 
friend, Mordecai Churchman, cashier of the bank there, 
and one of the people called quakers, that the chimney 
swallows of Easton had selected the like situation ; 
and that, from the windows of his house, which stands 
nearly opposite to the court-house, I might, in an hour 
or two, witness their whole manoeuvres. 
I accepted the invitation with pleasure. Accordingly, 
* Harris’s Journal, p. 180 . 
