THE HABITS OF SWIFTS [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sta,—I am sending you two as yet unrecorded stories of the swift, or chimney swallow, in regard to whose habits and night the author of the Natural History of Selborne has made such interesting observations.
Mr. E. A. Evans, of the United States Weather Bureau in Richmond, Virginia, was one afternoon sitting on the bank of the Chickahominy river watching a flock of chimney swallows as they dipped to the water for their last meal of the day. One particular 'swallow, just, as it reached the surface of the river, suddenly " stopped, and one wing fluttered violently. It was evident that something had caught it and it was making desperate efforts to free itself.
The something proved to be a water-moccasin, lying perfectly still in the river with only a part of its head exposed. The swallow had not seen the snake until too late and had been seized by the wing. Mr. Evans watched the snake carry the fluttering bird to the opposite shore, over the exposed mud flat and into the bushes.
It is often said that the chimney swallow has never been known to alight outside the recesses of the chimney where it Makes Its nest, .raises its young and spends its nights. On another occasion Mr. Evans's attention was attracted to a large flock of these birds packed closely together in the air outside the wall of one of the public buildings of Richmond. As he watched he saw that some of the swallows had alighted on the bricks. Others alighted .on• top of these and still others until they formed a mass nearly the size of a bushel basket, when suddenly the weight of the collection caused the whole Mass to fall away from the bricks and dissolve, as the swallows took each its separate way through the air.—I am, Sir, &c., JOHN DUNN.
The Prince George, Daytona Beach, Florida.
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