her seat and saw a Catbird trying to induce
the Finch to eat a worm it had brought for it. By dint of coaxing and
feeding the wild bird, she finally induced it to come often to the
window, and one day, as she sat on the porch, the Catbird brought a
berry and tried to put it into her mouth. We have often seen sparrows
come to the window of rooms where canaries were imprisoned, but it has
uniformly been to get food and not to administer it. The Catbird
certainly thus expressed its gratitude.

[Illustration: From col. Eugene Bliss.
CHIMNEY SWIFT.
Copyrighted by Nature Study Pub. Co., 1897, Chicago.]

THE CHIMNEY SWIFT.

Chief Pokagon, of the Pottawattamie Indians, in an article in _The
Osprey_, writes delightfully of the Chimney Swift, and we quote a
portion of it describing a peculiar habit of the bird. The chief was
a youth when he made the observation, and he writes in the second
person:

"As you look, you see the head of the young chief is turning slowly
around, watching something high in air above the stream; you now begin
to look in the same direction, catching glimpses every now and then,
of the segment of a wild revolving ring of small unnumbered birds
circling high above the trees. Their twittering notes and whizzing
wings create a musical, but wild, continued roar. You now begin to
realize he is determined to understand all about the feathered bees,
as large as little birds, the village boy had seen. The circle
continues to decrease in size, but increases the revolution until
all the living, breathing ring swings over the stream in the field
of your vision, and you begin to enquire what means all this mighty
ingathering of such multitude of birds. The young chief in admiration
claps his hands, leaping towards the stream. The twittering, whizzing
roar continues to increase; the revolving circle fast assumes a funnel
shape, moving downward until the point reaches the hollow in the stub,
pouring its living mass therein until the last bird dropped out of
sight. Rejoicing in wonder and admiration, the youth walks round the
base of the stub, listening to the rumbling roar of fluttering wings
within. Night comes on, he wraps his blanket closer about him, and
lies down to rest until the coming day, that he may witness the
swarming multitudes pass out in early morning. But not until the hour
of midnight does he fall asleep, nor does he wake until the dawn of
day, when, rising