4 THE -A\U DUB ON’ (BU i7 i Eeisien 
vertically down into it from a considerable height. Investigation not long 
afterward disclosed a nest with three eggs attached to the inside of the old 
shell, several feet from the top. As usual with chimney swifts the slightly 
concave bracket forming the nest was constructed of short lengths of twigs, 
Hollow beech stump 
Nesting site of chimney swifts 
broken by the birds as they flew through the branches of trees with only 
momentary flutterings. As we looked at the nest, to our minds came thoughts 
of the days before white settlers built chimneys in North America, and we 
could visualize the nesting sites of most of the swifts of that period, covering 
untold centuries. Then there were no clean-up crews to tear down dead and 
decaying trees left by natural processes and by fires set by the Indians. 
Perhaps nearly or quite as many such nesting sites, or possibly more, were 
available then as now, although one would suspect that in the nearly treeless 
plains certain regions may have had their swift populations increased by 
the advent of chimneys. 
