224 BIRDS OF THE NEW YORK CITY REGION 



New Jersey. A rare and very local summer resident throughout 

 our area, due to lack of favorable habitat. As a transient rare in 

 spring, often common in fall. Mr. Chas. A. Urner supplies repre- 

 sentative dates for the vicinity of Elizabeth; May 12, 1920 to 

 June 2, 1920; August 24, 1919 to September 15, 1918. 



ENGLEWOOD REGION. Rare spring, common fall transient; 

 May 9, 1888 (Chapman) to May 20, 1886 (Chapman); August 

 4, 1886 (Chapman) to October 10, 1915 (Rogers). A pair or 

 two breed near Leonia (Weber). 



CHIMNEY SWIFT (Chaetura pelagica) 



Few people are so unobservant as to overlook the bow- 

 and-arrow-like form and the loud chippering notes of the 

 Swift, as it streaks across the summer sky. It breeds through- 

 out our area whenever chimneys can be found, and is con- 

 sequently commonest in New York City and the suburbs. 

 I have no reports of its nesting in hollow trees anywhere in 

 our area at the present time. 



The Chimney Swift is more irregular in its arrival and 

 departure than most of our other purely insectivorous birds. 

 The bulk of the summer resident population never arrives 

 until the first big wave of May. On the other hand, four years 

 out of five a few birds are reported the last week in April, 

 on a very few occasions before the 20th. Moreover there is 

 often a complete hiatus between the arrival of these early 

 birds and the arrival of the majority of the breeding 

 individuals. The situation is exactly the same in the fall. 

 Breeding birds gather in large flocks in August and have a 

 common roosting chimney. As a result the species disappears 

 from many sections, such as Central Park, for instance, where 

 it is most exceptional to see Swifts even late in August. 

 Another period of hiatus ensues, and then there is a distinct 

 migration of Swifts sometime between September 20 and 

 October 10, a migration which is often overlooked entirely, 

 unless the sky be most carefully watched. This evidence 

 does not warrant a positive statement of fact, but certainly 

 justifies the suspicion that such early and late individuals are 



