352 SHRIEKING BIRDS — STRISORES. 



like tliat of the Eastern cliiinney-swallow, of small sticks glued together, 

 and stuck against the wall of the cavity by the saliva of the bird, containing 

 four pure white eggs. I did not, however, observe them in tlie summer of 

 1853, at Fort Vancouver. 



Not having been in the interior at the proper season, I do not know 

 whether they occur in the central valleys, but Heermann does not men- 

 tion seeing them there. They may lieconie common where high chimneys 

 are built. Like the Eastern species they probably go south early. 



In 1866 their first appearance at Santa Cruz was May 4th, though as 

 they rarely descend to the town, they may have been among the hills for 

 some time previously. 



October 5th, I observed five of them in company with a large flock of 

 Hirundo bicolor, which spent the morning hunting insects near town, appar- 

 ently delayed in their migration southward by a thick fog and cold south 

 wind. As this is two months later than the Eastern species departs south, 

 these may have been a late brood from the far north. 



Family TEOCHILID^, The Humming-Birds. 



Char. Bill long and thin, forming a sheath for the very long forked 

 thread-like tongue. Secondaries six. Wings falcate, shafts of the primaries 

 strong, the first always longest. Tail of ten feathers. Feet very small, 

 claws sharp and strong. 



Tliere are over four hundred species of these splendidly brilliant birds 

 known to naturalists, all inhabiting America ; but only nine of them oc- 

 cur within the limits of the United States, and Ijut one is found in 

 the Atlantic States, the T. coliibris, or ruby-throated hummer. 



T. colubris. 



