buewstek: birds of the cape region, lower California. Ill 



Numerous examples of this species in my collection from Lower California, 

 Arizona, ami western Mexico, show no appreciable geographical variations in 

 respect to either size or color, but they average a trifle smaller and, as a rule, 

 are somewhat lighter colored than a number of Texas specimens in the col- 

 lection of the late Mr. Sennett. 



Mr. Frazar saw the first Texan Nighthawk at Triunfo on the evening of 

 April 15. It was next met with on the Sierra de la Laguna, where one or two 

 were observed the last week in May. At Triunfo the birds were abundant 

 during the last three weeks of June, appearing regularly every evening near 

 the ranch, and skimming back and forth close over a large wood pile, which 

 evidently harbored insects on which they were feeding. After a succession of 

 heavy showers which occurred at this place early in July they suddenly and 

 wholly disappeared. At San Juse del Cabo a few were seen at intervals 

 through the autumn up to November 11, and several were observed near San- 

 tiago on December 3. Mr. Belding found the species " abundant at San Josd 

 after April 23," but he says that it was "rarely seen at La Paz." As the 

 latter statement presumably refers to some date or dates between December 

 15, 1881, and March 21, 1882, it seems fair to assume that the December in- 

 stance noted by Mr. Frazar was not exceptional, and that at least a few birds 

 regularly winter in the Cape Region. Mr. Frazar obtained a set of two eggs, 

 slightly incubated, at Pierce's Ranch, on July 20. 



The Texan Nighthawk seems to be generally distributed throughout the 

 central and northern portions of the Peninsula, although, judging by Mr. 

 Bryant's experience, it is nowhere very common to the northward of La Paz. 

 Its extralimital range includes the lower border of the United States from 

 southern California to eastern Texas, southward to Central America. 



Chaetura vauxii (Towns.). 



Vaux's Swift. 



At San Jose del Cabo on September 24, and again on November 2, Mr. 

 Frazar saw •' a small black Swift " which he thought belonged to this species, 

 and which, indeed, could not well have been anything else. On each occasion 

 only a single bird was observed, but the one seen in September was accom- 

 panied by a number of Barn and Eave Swallows. Chaetura vauxii was of 

 course to be expected in this region, at least as a migrant, but it has not been 

 reported up to this time, although it Avas observed by Mr. Belding in May, 

 1885, between San Rafael and San Pedro Martir, in the northern portion of 

 the Peninsula (Bryant). 



Vaux's Swift is found on the Pacific slope from British Columbia south into 

 Mexico. It is not known to breed south of San Francisco. 



