CHIMNEY SWIFT. 
211 
chimney. If they contain young partly grown the little fellows manage to clamber up the 
sides and cling to the bricks, remaining in this position until able to fly. They appear to 
suffer no more inconvenience than if in the nest as they are regularly cared for by the par¬ 
ents. When the Swifts enter a narrow flue, they proceed in a singular manner; balanc¬ 
ing themselves for a moment over the opening and elevating their wings to the utmost, 
they will settle downward but a too rapid descent is avoided by oscillating the body from side 
to side. When ascending, the wings are vibrated rapidly, causing a noise which resem¬ 
bles distant thunder. They are very devoted to their offspring and I once observed a 
touching display of this. A house in the chimney of which a pair of these birds had a 
home, was on fire, the roof had fallen in, thus the flames were leaping upward with fury 
and the intense heat caused all in the immediate vicinity to withdraw, when I observed a 
Chimney Swift circling high over the burning pile; it paused above the chimney which con¬ 
tained its joung, balanced itself for a moment, and, to my astonishment, dropped quickly 
with the usual rocking motion, into a flue which was surrounded by bricks that were fairly 
glowing with heat. This extreme devotion to its young must have caused its death as 
it did not appear again; in fact, it could not have lived a moment in the furnace which it 
entered. 
Swifts are very tenacious of life and this is not only true of our species but, as I once 
learned to my cost, is also noticeable in at least one other. I was passing through a field 
near my place in Newtonville in the summer of 1877, when I observed a singular appear¬ 
ing bird clinging to a pole which was lying on top of a wall. It was nearly the size of a 
Night Hawk but its manner of clinging to the wood was so different that I saw at once that 
it was not this species. I approached it cautiously but when I was within twenty yards, 
it turned its head to look at me and then I saw that it was a huge Swift of some species. 
I instantly raised my gun and shot at it, knocking it off its perch but on the opposite side 
of the wall from that on which I was standing. Thus I lost sight of it for a moment , only 
to see it again mounting in air some fifty yards away, too far to get a second shot with 
the light charge with which my remaining barrel was loaded. It was evidently wound¬ 
ed badly for it flew laboriously but with the characteristic flight of the Swifts. I watched 
it anxiously as it continued to mount upward, expecting every moment to see it Ml but 
was disappointed for it disappeared in the distance and I never saw it again. What it was 
is, of course, only a matter of pure conjecture. 
The only notes that the adult Chimney Swifts utter is a kind of rattle which is given 
quite slowly when the birds are moving moderately but as the speed is increased, the notes 
are poured forth more rapidly and end in a perfect chatter. The young make a hissing 
noise when the parents appear which sounds quite loud in the chimney. The eggs of the 
Swifts are deposited the last week in May but the young do not leave the chimneys until 
the last of August at which time they are nearly fledged and resemble the adults so close¬ 
ly in flight that it is almost impossible to detect the difference. The Swifts do not remain 
late in autumn but migrate, at least, by the first of October, departing as they arrive, in a 
body. I do not think that they linger on their autumnal migration but leave at once for 
the tropics. 
