CHIMNEY SWIFT 271 



on board the S. S. Antigim on September 20, 1933, while the vessel 

 was 84 miles off the coast of Guatemala. 



Egg dates. — California : 27 records, Jmie 16 to July 29 ; 14 records, 

 June 24 to Jul}^ 9, indicating the height of the season. 



CHAETURA PELAGICA (Linnaeus) 



CHIMNEY SWIFT 



Plates 44-46 



HABITS 



Contributed by Winsor Markett Tyler 



From its unknown winter quarters, somewhere in Central America 

 or on the South American Continent, the chimney swift comes north- 

 ward in spring and spreads out over a wide area, which includes a 

 large part of the United States and southern Canada. 



Individually the swift is an obscure little bird, with a stumpy, dull- 

 colored body, short bristly tail, and stiff, sharp wings, but it is such 

 a common bird over the greater part of its breeding range and col- 

 lects in such enormous flocks, notably when it gathers for its autumnal 

 migration, that as a species it is widely known. 



The birds also have the habit of continual flight during the hours 

 of daylight throughout the summer, and therefore keep always before 

 our eyes when we look up at the sky. They exemplify speed and tire- 

 less energy; they sail and circle on set wings, then with flickering 

 wing beats they are off in a burst of speed, shooting like an arrow 

 through the air, chattering their bright notes as they race along — 

 little arrows "cutting the clouds" over country, town, and woodland. 



Spring. — Swifts move up into the northern latitudes only when 

 spring is rather far advanced, not until their aerial insect food is 

 plentiful well above the ground. Therefore their arrival varies a 

 good deal from year to year. 



Kopman (1915) reports that the average date of appearance in New 

 Orleans is about March 18. In New England, in an average year, 

 we do not expect the birds for fully 30 days after this date; hence 

 we may infer that they spend a month in moving across a dozen 

 degrees of latitude. 



A daylight migrant, solely, so far as is known, we see the first 

 arrivals of this swift commonly in the afternoon, sailing in small 

 companies — perhaps only a single bird — often high in the air. As 

 they fly along, they give an occasional chatter, or a few rather feeble 

 chips, but with none of the energy and volubility characteristic of the 

 breeding season. On cloudy days in spring, when the swifts dip down 



