290 BULLETIN 17 6, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



must have been 500 or 600 in all, though, of course, difficult to 

 estimate." 



Winter. — In 1886 all that was known of the chimney swift in win- 

 ter was that it passed south of the United States (A. O. U. Check-list 

 of North American Birds, ed. 1, 1886). The third edition, pub- 

 lished in 1910, adds that the bird winters "at least to Vera Cruz 

 and Cozumel Island [Yucatan] and probably in Central America." 

 The fourth edition, 1931, extends the probable winter range to 

 Amazonia. 



Chapman (1931) cites two specimens of the chimney swift, taken 

 late in autumn in West Panama at a time when many South Ameri- 

 can bound migrants were passing through this region. He says: 



If we may assume that they [the chimney swifts] winter in a forested, rather 

 than an arid region it is not improbable that they were bound for Amazonia, 

 where the presence as permanent residents of five species of Chaetiira shows that 

 the region offers a favorable habitat for birds of this genus. From at least 

 two of the Brazilian species, pelagica could not certainly be distinguished in the 

 air. Sight identification, therefore, is out of the question, and until a specimen 

 is secured we shall not know where the Chimney Swift winters. But, as every 

 collector of birds in tropical America knows, to see a Swift is one thing, to get 

 it quite another. Native collectors are not willing to expend the ammunition 

 required to capture Swifts, and even visiting naturalists secure comparatively 

 few. With our attention directed toward Amazonia as the possible winter 

 quarters of the North American species it may be long, therefore, before our 

 theory is confirmed by specimens. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — Temperate North America east of the Rocky Mountains, 

 wintering probably in northeastern South America. 



Breeding range. — The breeding range of the chimney swift extends 

 north to probably southeastern Saskatchewan (Indian Head) ; south- 

 ern Manitoba (probably Carberry, Portage la Prairie, Winnipeg, and 

 Indian Bay) ; southern Ontario (Goulais Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, 

 Algonquin Park, Kirks Ferry, and Ottawa) ; and southern Quebec 

 (Montreal, Quebec City, probably rarely Godbout, and Grande 

 Greve). From this northeastern point the range extends southward 

 along the coast of the Maritime Provinces of Canada and the United 

 States to Florida (St. Augustine, Daytona Beach, and Orlando). 

 South to Florida (Orlando, Tarpon Springs, St. Marks, Chipley, and 

 Pensacola) ; southern Mississippi (Biloxi) ; southern Louisiana (New 

 Orleans, Thibodaux, and New Iberia) ; and southeastern Texas 

 (Houston). West to eastern Texas (Houston, Troup, and 

 Commerce) ; Oklahoma (Norman, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and Co- 

 pan) ; eastern Kansas (Wichita, Topeka, and Onaga) ; Nebraska (Ne- 

 ligh and Cody) ; eastern South Dakota (Sioux Falls, Dell Eapids, 



