154 Dr. R. W. Sliufeldt on 



iuto the canon I have alhided to above, to very near the 

 ground, when it will ascend close to its wall with almost 

 equal velocity, and at once enter the fissure wherein its nest 

 is. Such a movement is invariably accompanied by a loud 

 whirring noise made by its sharp wings, a sound much 

 intensified by the acoustic properties of the walls of the 

 canon. It was under such circumstances that I secured the 

 only two specimens I obtained during the year 1885. 



As already observed by Coues [loc. cit.), the note of this 

 Swift is " a loud shrill twitter,-" and I may add that in 

 character it commences rather slow with the several utter- 

 ances quite distinct, but advances and closes with the sounds 

 increasing in rapidity. These birds have a habit of giving 

 vent to this peculiar twitter while they are within their 

 nests or in the clefts wherein they are concealed, a practice 

 also common, as we know, to many species of Swallows. 



The best and about the only opportunity one has of 

 collecting specimens of this Swift is, as Dr. Heermann 

 remarks, upon rainy and cloudy days. At such times as 

 these I have seen them skimming close over the sage-brush 

 on the prairie about Fort Wingate, or, as the weather clears 

 uj) a little, rising high in the air to career about over the 

 surrounding hills, where, from their great elevation and rapid 

 flight, almost in the clouds, it taxes one's eyes to follow 

 them. 



A few days prior to the 8th September, 1886, we had here 

 a rainy and cloudy time, but the Swifts kept pretty high up, 

 and when they did condescend to sweep down towards the 

 ground it was with a velocity that would tax the skill of 

 the best shot in the world. However, I tried them, and 

 out of thirteen shots, fired in about one hour and a half, I 

 secured five fine specimens. A few days afterwards (11th 

 September) a still better day, in fact as good a one as we 

 could hope for for the purpose, presented itself, and I 

 hastened to the open where my favourites usually could be 

 found at such times. To my delight 1 saw some thirty or 

 forty skimmeriug low over the ground, like so many black- 

 and-white meteors, and I immediately chose a suitable 



