Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmann 53 



entirely vanished until the first ones reappear in the 

 Southern JStates in March, five months after their dis- 

 appearance. This is such an unique occurrence in bird- 

 dom, for we know by this time the winter habitat of 

 nearly all North American birds, that it is not strange to 

 find people who think the Swifts must hibernate in some 

 unknown, inaccessible retreats in Central or South 

 'America, spending the five months in a lethargic or tor- 

 pid state like the bats and many reptiles and batrachians. 

 About half a dozen species of Chaetura, resembling our 

 Chimney Swift, have been found in different parts of 

 Central and South America and the Antilles, but no one 

 has ever told us where the millions and millions of Chim- 

 ney Swifts of the United States spend the winter. That 

 such enormous numbers of birds of one species could 

 escape the vigilance of scores of collectors working for 

 generations in all parts of the Western Continent is 

 really mysterious. If the species had a restricted dis- 

 tribution and were therefore little numerous, as, for in- 

 stance, the Kjrtland Warbler, which is breeding in only 

 three counties in central Michigan, it would not astonish 

 anybody to be told that its winter quarters are not known. 

 But in the search by ornithologists the winter home of 

 even this rare Warbler has been found in the Bahama 

 Islands. 



This chapter of possible hibernation of a bird is so 

 interesting that I cannot refrain from reading to you 

 what Dr. E. Coues, the most talented writer in bird lit- 

 erature and one of the most distinguished promoters of 

 American ornithology^ had to say on the subject.* 



The Cliimney Swift is a wonderful bird. Besides its 

 mysterious disappearance in fall there are three features 

 in the economy of its life which stand out prominently : 

 Its marvelous powers of flight, its peculiar nest building, 

 and its unique roosting. Few birds spend such a large 

 part of their life on the wing as the Swift does; it never 



♦Birds of the Colorado Valley, by Dr. Elliott Coues, pages 372-378. 



