Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-06-25
Watching Home Making of
a Pair.
PROVIDING THE TWIGS
KNOWS HOW TO USE MATERIAL
AT HAND.
No Relation to the Swallow, for Which
It is Often Mistaken-The
Swift's Home.

Written for The Evening Star.
From the roof Of my house there project
several long brick chimneys. one OF which
is never used In summer. In this chimney
Il pair of chimney swifts have made their
home. as they or other swifts have done
for many years. Some time before the
nrst-bulding began three swifts appeared.
flying back and forth above the house and
over the country round about twittering
shrily and pursuing one another without
ps use. for hours together. Now and then
one of them would wheel close above the
chimney and suddenly drop into 1t. and
sometimes one of its companions would
follow. After a time. one of the three dis
appeared. and the remaining two appar-
emily mated. began to make themselves at
home. Not far away there Is an old tree.
the top of which IS covered with fine dead
twigs. About this dead top the Swifts
would fly. now and then swOopng at the
branches as though in pursuit of insects.
and the branches themselves would trem-
BILE. showing the birds had touched them.
1t was not for insects. however that these
sNoops were made; the birds were simply
swapping off thin. dead twigs for use in
the construction of their nest in the chin
ney. 1t was not long before the nest be-
gan to take form; a little black cradle. It
made entirely OF the twigs. glued to-
whole fastened to the side of the chimney
with the same homemade glue, furnished
by special glands in the mouths of the
birds. And few days later the nest con-
tanned four small white eggs, and incuba-
ton began.
Ready for Anything.
The chimney swift Is an excellent ex-
ample of bird which Is able to adapt itself
to circumstances. and to take advantage of
were any chlmneyed houses in this country
the bird built its nest best in the interior
of some hollow tree. Gradually. as houses
began to grow up. and as chimneys began
to be available for nesting purposes. those
swifts which happened to be in the vicinity
of such chimneys. finding them admirably
adapted to their needs. used them. while
the swifts which lived in the unsettled parts
OF the country went on using hollow trees
as before. ChimneyS are now so numerous,
and are usually SO superior to hollow trees
for nesting purposes. that they have been
generally adopted by the whole species and
today 1t would probably be difficult mat
ter TO find chimney swift's nest in a hol-
low tree. In the time OF Audubon and Will
son however. this was not the case, and
Audubon himself saw many swifts still
nesting In trees in lower Kentucky. Indiana
and Illinois. The most popular trees seemed
to be those which were hollow from top to
bottom. and having mere shell of a trunk.
Perhaps because such trees were comDar-
atively uncommon. 1t often happened that
each one was the home of many pairs of
swifts. In one such tree, a giant sycamore
which Audubon had cut down he found
about thirty nests. and there was also one
nest in each of the hollow branches. After
the breeding season, and before the birds
moved SOUTH they used these trees as roost-
ing places. and In the hollow of one great
tree examined by Audubon he estimated
that there were 1000 SwiftS. He had a hole
cut IN the base of the tree. and on going to
the spot at night and looking up he saw the
entire inside wall OF the tree covered with
sleeping swifts clinging with their sharp
claws and supported by their stifr tail
feathers one morning he went to this tree
very early. while il was still dark and
waited until the birds began to come ont
suddenly. with a noise which at first caused
him TO think that the great tree was fall
ing. the birds began to rise, and for about
han an hour they poured out of the ton
Ike stream of black smoke This same
sight may now be seen II one chooses to
rise early and visit some old factory chin
the swifts
Quite as interesting to my mind Ia the
sight Of these birds going in to roost at
CuSk. Tie first time / saw this phenome-
non was at Greenwich, Conn. where one
evening. l was watching an immense flock
OF swifts circling In tho air in the vicinity
OF tall old chimney. Gradually as the
darkness came on. the birds gathered near
ei 10 ne top or this chimney, in a Swirling
mass. as though some force were stirring
them round and round Presently one of the
swift5 dropped down. then another and an
other. end the whole flock assuming the
form Of a gigantic funnel, whirled into the
chimney mouth as though they were sucked
downward by a whirlpool
Not Recognized.
One OF the popular errors concerning the
swift Is the belief that 1t Is a swallow. and
II Is called the chimney swallow by nine
tenths Of the people. AS matter of fact
however. II IS not even closely related to
the swallows. being much more nearly akin
to the humm!ngbirds and the goatsuckers
Like birds of the latter class swifts feed on
insects which they capture on the wing
Their rowers of flight are marvellous while
on foot they are practically helpless Their
wings have been developed to wonderful
degree. hut their feet. through disuse have
become weak and quite useless for pur-
poses OF iocomotton. Their tOenails are
sharp. however. and ena BILE them to cling
securely to the Inside of a chimney, and
when, fOI any reason a nest gives way and
falls down. as II often does. the young birds
II not too small. can scramble up to the top
OF the chimney to be fed by their parents
until they able to shift for themselves
ERNEST HAROLD BAYNES