. Birds of America;. Birds -- North America. 178 BIRDS OF AMERICA that no one has yet discovered where it spends the five months between the time it disappears from the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico in November until it returns in March. This extraordinary mystery was recorded by Wells W. Cooke, assistant biologist of the Bureau of Biological Survey, in his invaluable monograph on Bird Migration, as follows: "Much has been learned about bird migration in these latter days, but much yet remains to be learned, and the fol- lowing is one of the most curious and interesting of the unso
. Birds of America;. Birds -- North America. 178 BIRDS OF AMERICA that no one has yet discovered where it spends the five months between the time it disappears from the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico in November until it returns in March. This extraordinary mystery was recorded by Wells W. Cooke, assistant biologist of the Bureau of Biological Survey, in his invaluable monograph on Bird Migration, as follows: "Much has been learned about bird migration in these latter days, but much yet remains to be learned, and the fol- lowing is one of the most curious and interesting of the unsolved problems. The Chimney Swift is one of the most abundant and best-known birds of the eastern United States. With troops of fledglings, catching their winged prey as they go and lodging by night in tall chimneys, the flocks drift slowlv south joining with other bands, until on the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico they become an innumerable host. Then they disappear. Did they drop into the water or hibernate in the mud, as was believed of old, their obliteration could not be more complete. In the last week in March a joyful twittering far overhead announces their return to the Gulf coast, but their hiding place during the interven- ing five months is still the Swift's ; George Gl.\dden. Vaux's Swift (Cluvtura vauxi) is the western representative of the Chimney Swift, ranging through the Pacific coast district from British Columbia to Lower California. Its upper parts are sooty brown and the under parts, .gray. In general appearance it is quite Bat-like and it, too, flies abroad at eventide. WHITE-THROATED SWIFT Aeronautes melanoleucus (Baird) A. O. U. Number 4^5 General Description.— Length, 6-}4 inches. Upper parts, sooty-blackisli witli two white patches; under parts, white. Tail, forked with the feathers narrow and stiff but not spiny. Color.— Adults : Crown and hindneck, grayish- brown to very dark sooty-brown, sometimes uniform but usually becoming pa
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