Extracts from Diary of Otto Widmatm 61 



of Swifts was noticeable, and at 5 :45 two separate bodies 

 had formed, one over the florist's, the other over the park 

 chimneys. At 5:46 the first entered the park chimney 

 and it was now evident that the wild, whirling flock of 

 excited, twittering birds was thickening fast, but the 

 descent was slow compared with former entries for the 

 next five minutes, though continuous. At 5 :51 an enor- 

 mous crowd of birds was in the air and the crowd above 

 the florist's went over in a body to the main army, which 

 now ]:)Oured in a thick stream for over five minutes, while 

 new flocks arrived and circled in clouds hardly visible on 

 account of the darkness which had set in. Only sharp 

 eyes could see them enter and I had to use my fieldglass 

 to see the large numbers lately arrived go in during the 

 last four minutes, until at 6 p. m. the last disappeared. 

 October 15 had always been considered a late date for 

 Swifts, but there were fully as many birds present as 

 before; it took them fourteen minutes instead of eight 

 to enter and the descent commenced when almost dark, 

 the birds arriving later than usual and in real flocks. In 

 many years October 14 to 19 were the dates for the very 

 last Swift on my records, but the extraordinary beauty of 

 last autumn retained our Smft long enough to break all 

 records for the state of Missouri, namely October 26, the 

 previous latest being October 24. Though the weather 

 after the 15th continued with maximum temperatures 

 above 80° until October 23, the number of roosting Swifts 

 became smaller and irregular ; only 800 were counted on 

 rainy, dark October 18th, 1,200 on the 19tli, and 600 on 

 the 21st. When cooler weather set in on October 23rd we 

 thought migration would be over and were astonished to 

 see, on October 24th, that the roost was not entirely de- 

 serted, as two birds came when almost dark and went 

 directly into the chimney without any preliminary osten- 

 tation. 



Mr. Christie visited the roost in a drizzling rain on 

 October 26 and reported that within 18 minutes, from 



