Field Notes 
237 
tatiou on my records, nearly 100 birds being seen, and these on twelve 
dates. The first date was May 22, the last September 19, bnt none were 
seen during the period from June 12 to August 21, which includes the 
season for rearing their young. All but fifteen of the birds were seen 
after August 21. 
My this year’s record is much larger than that of 1921 and, judging 
from the size of the fall migration, the species is increasing its numbers 
rapidly. I made twenty-two records of the bird from May 19 to Sep- 
tember 9; four of these dates were for spring migration, two for summer 
residents, and the remainder for fall migration. Roughly counting, there 
were 385 birds in all. 
On the evenings of June 19 and July 2 (1922), while driving in In- 
dependence, Iowa, I saw one or two Nighthawks, but aside from these L 
made no other summer records for this county. I might add that on the 
evening of July 4 I noted several of the birds maneuvering in the air 
above the fairgrounds at Manchester, the county seat of an adjoining 
county. It was good to hear them again, even though it was above the 
clamor of a vigorous Iowa Fourth of July celebration. On August 21 
the bird made its reappearance and was seen, in varying numbers, every 
day with three exceptions from then to September 9. During this period 
372 birds were seen, according to my daily records. Owing to inaccura- 
cies in counting or estimating the larger flocks, this figure represents 
only the approximate number. Their usual daily number varied from 3 
to 20, although on September 1 about 45 were seen, and September 9 — the 
last day — about 200 passed southward. These birds were all silent and, 
while most of them seemed to be proceeding in rather a leisurely fashion, 
some appeared to hunt in one vicinity for several days. Regarding the 
last day's migration (September 9), I take this excerpt from my journal: 
It was cloudy all afternoon, with the clouds growing darker and heavier 
along toward evening, and at this time the NighthaAvks were first seen. 
In all directions they were to be seen, some in rather large flock forma- 
tions and others trailing along by themselves or far from a flock. Many 
were so high in the air that they looked more like specks than birds, 
and all seemed to be hunting food in a leisurely and not directed man- 
ner. It is very hard to estimate so many scattered individuals, but after 
surveying the locality I decided that 200 would be a conservative esti- 
mate. About 5:00 it began raining and many Nighthawks could be seen 
flying about high in the air in the rain.” 
A little over a year ago I raised the question of whether or not the 
Nighthawk was decreasing.* A number of people responded and each ex- 
pressed the belief that the species had been declining rapidly and Avas be- 
coming scarce in his or her particular region. Data were received from the 
following places: Hampton Falls, N. H.; Cincinnatus and Collins, N. Y. ; 
Cambridge, Md.; Elkader and Nashua, Iowa; Carrington, N. Dak.; Edge- 
wood, Lower Arrow Lake, British Columbia. I am much interested 
in this subject and any further information relative to the migratory 
movements and status of this wandering species will be gratefully re- 
ceived. Fred J. Pierce. 
Winthrop, Iowa, September, 1922. 
* Bird-Lore, Vol. 23, No. 4, July-August, 1921, p. 197. 
