Heavy 
migration 
of Swifts 
Vi in 
*>) 
When approached by their ...other, the young Tanagers would 
squat down on their perches and quiver their half-opened 
wings. I did not see her feed them. 
The forenoon was spent in planting hemlocks. In 
the afternoon we took a long walk — to Davis Swamp and 
back by way of Bensen's and the open fields. Two Brown 
Thrashers were seen and Chickadees and Black-poll Warblers 
heard in several places. 
As we were reclining on the ground under a large 
pine at the northern end of Davis Ridge, small objects 
began falling in quick succession, rattling down through the 
branches and striking the ground all about us. On picking 
up one, I found it to be the half o a cup of a large green 
acorn. There must have been a Squirrel concealed in the 
top of the pine, but we could see nothing of him. 
During the descent of the river and while at Ball’s 
Hill, we had not seen a single Swift but at evening as we 
were paddling past Holden's Hill five of these birds 
appeared at a great height overhead and began descending 
and cutting about after their usual fashion. Others 
followed them and still others until by the end of the next 
four or five minutes there were fully 75 darting back and 
forth over the river and woods. They all came from the 
North, as I could plainly see by watching the sky in that 
direction, and evidently wene migrating birds which merely 
made a brief halt to secure their evening meal. For the 
remainder of the way up the river, Swifts were continually 
