The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1941-08-28
effectively Covers Big HON County"
about ~ feet below it.

l 2k6So0 S6 4S~S Wv
Though it roosts in flocks, thu
swift does not COLOMBO during
the nesting season. Usually only
one nest is found in a chimneJ
or hollow tree. The nest is de.
scribed as a little half-saucer o.
dead twigs and glued to the wal
by a Salivary secretion. From
four to six eggs are laid. The
young emerge from the nest.
when partly grown and attach
themselves to the side of the
wall.
Mans firts large-scale contact
with the chimney swift came
probably in 1926 when Herbert
L. Stoddard attached numbered
bands to some 200 chimney
SwiftS taken in q special trap
Since then over 324,400 chimney
SwiftS have been banded by Fish
and Wildlife service personne
and cooperatorS.
Approximately $500 of these
birds have been retrapped anc
their band numbers recorded
by this means the Fish anc
Wildlife service has been able
to study the flight habits Of
the bird.
The largest number of chin.
ney swiftS banded in one trar
was 6,O25 by Harold S. Peters
now a service flyway biologist, II
Atlanta Ga, in 1881. In all, Bi.
ologist Peters has banded 23,45(
of these birds. John B. Calhoun
and J.. c.. Dickinson, operating
a banding station at the Uni.
versity of Virginia, Charlottes,
vile, Va. have banded 27,440,
Mrs. F. C. Laskey of Nashville
Tenn, 1880; Ida Merriman
of Kingston, Ontario, 15,40O,
and R. J. Fleetwood, manager
of the Piedmont National Wild.
life refuge at Round Oak, Ga.
14,64O.
So far as is known the chin.
ney swift migrates in the day.
time only. For years it was MOI
seen in wintertime, and it wa!
thought by some that the birc
hibernated. Then it was dis,
covered on migration in thu
West Indies and Central Amer.
lea. No winter specimen has evel
been collected, but it is though
the swift winters in Central OF
South America.
Arriving on the Gulf coast ir
its northward migration around
the middle of March. the swift
spreads out and ranges from
the Atlantic seaboard WESTWARD
to eastern Texas, Montana, anc
central Alberta. The species
moves as far north as southern
Canada.
How far the swift moves
northward depends on the sup
ply of aerial insect food. Ac-
cording to w. l.. McAtee, tech
nical adviser to the director OF
the Fish and Wildlife service
"The birds food consists almost
wholly of insects, and beetles
flies, and ants are the principal
items. It gets many beetles, the
most serious enemies of our for
ests, when they are swarming
and takes also the old-fash-
ioned potato beetle, the tarn-
ished plant-bug, and other in
furious insects. The bird is, of
course, largely beneficial to the
agricultural interests of the
country.
Apparently because it has lit
tie contact with man, the swift
shows no fear when taken in
banding traps. Constance and E
E. Everett are quoted as saying
that the birds are Every quiet
and apparently comfortable at
all stages of the game. When
held in the hands they would
snuggle between the fingers
confidingly, and when held
against the clothes they would
wiggle under the folds of the
garments and ~contentedly go to
Sleep"
But few people have the op-
portunity to stand on a roof
top and hold chimney swifts in
the hand. Many people will be
fortunate enough during August
September and October, to see
the large flocks tipping down
chimneys or flying toward South
America.