266 PANYPTILA SAXATILIS, WIIITE-TIIROATED SWIFT. 



a former occasion that there was no donbt of its being the same as the 

 bird subsequently described by Prof. Baird; and although I did not 

 then consider it necessary to make the change of nomenclature, this has 

 since a]>peared to me to be required. While encamped at "Inscription 

 Eock" (the original locality of fiaxatilis), I saw great numbers of these 

 Swifts; but as I had been obliged to leave my gun behind, to accom- 

 plish the difticult and rather dangerous ascent of the cliis, 1 failed to 

 secure specimens, though the birds occasionally flew almost in my face, 

 so that 1 could positively identify them. The only material discrepancy 

 in Woodhouse's description is the mention of a white rump; but I am 

 perfectly satisfied the observer mistook the character of the white lat- 

 eral flank-patches, which often in life overlie the rump till they nearly 

 or quite meet across it. The Violet-green Swallow shows exactly the 

 same thing. 



From Inscription Rock, which lies a day's march west of Whipple's 

 Pass, between this and Zuni, to the San Francisco Mountains, I saw the 

 Swifts almost daily — always when we passed the peculiar cliffs they fre- 

 quent. In favorable places they were congregated in immense numbers, 

 and were evidently nesting in the rocks. But their strongholds were 

 impregnable, at least from the front, and as it would have delayed the 

 party a day to make a detour and scale the crags from behind, I cannot 

 say whether they built a nest against the open rocks or in the crevices, 

 though they certainly did so upon the face of the cliffs. With them 

 were associated large numbers of Swallows, particularly the II. luni- 

 frons. They generaUy fly very high — far out of gunshot-range, and with 

 extraordinary rapidity. I shall never forget my disappointment when, 

 on this account, I failed to secure specimens under the most advantage- 

 ous circumstances 1 could reasonably expect. It was at sundown when 

 we encamped by some small pools, where the dank, hot, lower atmos- 

 l^here was loaded with gnats and mosquitoes, upon which the birds came 

 skimming down quite to the ground to feed, as well as to sip the water 

 in passing. The associate Swallows outnumbered them ten or twenty 

 to one, and it added so much to the difficulty of shooting them, that I 

 had to occupy precious seconds in picking out the right birds, among 

 the hundreds dashinf down to the pool, and I invariably fired either 

 prematurely or just too late ; and when the darkness closed in I had not 

 got a single Swift. 



The species was observed in the same zoological area by Drs. Kenn- 

 erly and Heermann, both of whom have recorded remarks agreeing in 

 purport with my own. Dr. Cooper extended the known range of the 

 species to the Pacific. "About twelve miles north of San Diego," he 

 writes, "I found them rather numerous about some high rocky bluffs, 

 close to the sea shore. They were there March 22, and may have been 

 about a month previously, but generally fly so high during the day that 

 they are at first betrayed by their harsh twitter when scarcely i)ercepti- 

 ble in the zenith. Occasionally they start off" like lightning for several 

 miles and back, as if it were only a slight curve iu their course ; some- 

 times they sweep for a moment near the ground, and the next disappear 

 in the sky." This naturalist seems to think they winter about the canons 

 of the Colorado, noting that Dr. Kennerly found them February 10, but 

 this appears to me improbable. Swallows often appear in our Middle 

 districts in February, allured by a few warm days to perform a flight 

 from the far South ; and the appearance of these Swifts in February is 

 nothing remarkable for the hot region of Colorado. Messrs. Sclater 

 and Salviu record the species from Guatemala, and a flight through 

 Mexico, toward the close of winter, would be a mere bagatelle to birds 

 of such powers of wing. 



