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I7 o THE CONDOR VoL. IX In looking for the birds' nests we followed down the long colonnades whose beautiful arches with their deep shadows attract the photographers and whose richly tinted old walls afford subjects to rouse the enthusiasm of colorists, but they revealed no ornithological treasures, and a dusky old deserted chapel that was en- tered proved only the home of the barn owl seen when mousing for her squealing young at bat-hunting time. As she flew from her attic--an ancient choir loft?- and flapped out thru a window into the ungrateful light of day we passed on, to enter at last the main old chapel whose bell tower had fallen in during the earth- quake of 1812. As it was now open to the sky it was a good place to watch from, and seated on a block of the fallen wall I looked up at the swifts circling around among the CHAPEL AT CAPISTRABIO ?'ITH EAVE SX%'ALLOXVS ? BIESTS UNDER ARCHES? ABID X?'HITE-THROATED SX?'IF?I'S' BIEST AT EBID OF SIDE ARCH {Site Marlted by Circle) eave swallows, at one time seeing a buzzard's big dark figure above the rest. The swifts darted around thru the sky at such ligiltning speed it was hard to keep track of individuals,but ten were finally told off, in sight at one time. When they were circling about, their notes had the metallic vibrant quality and the delightful tang peculiar to them, but when they set to on rapidly vibrating wings to chase after each other they gave a common swift-like twitter. At thdr slowest it was hard to tell just what they did with their wings except when they set them for soaring, but once both wings seemed held high above the body for a moment, and in rapid running the two appeared to be used alternately as those of the common swift seem to be at times