60 



THE OOLOOIST 



A peculiarity of tliis species that 

 seems to have been overlool^ed by 

 other writers is that of nesting in colo- 

 nies. This fact is attested by the fol- 

 lowing records from my note-books: 



May 7, 1907. A clump of cypress 

 trees near the ciy limis of Los Ange- 

 les. About eight pairs nesting, four 

 nests examined contained two to four 

 fresh eggs. 



May 16, 1907. A grove of young 

 pines in a city park. About fifteen 

 pairs nesting, all with small young or 

 eggs advanced in incubation. 



April 3, 1908. A small clump of cy- 

 press and pepper trees near the foot- 

 hills. About six pairs nesting here. 

 Three nests examined contained five, 

 three, and five eggs respectively, in- 

 cubation fresh. Two nests not yet 

 finished. 



April 4, 1908. Nest eighteen inches 

 from ground in a clump of sage brush 

 on side of canyon. Four eggs, incuba- 

 tion commenced. This nest was near 

 the last mentioned colony. 



May 4, 1908. Three pairs nesting m 

 two cypress trees. Incubation varied 

 from slight to advanced. 



May 8, 1909. Six pairs nesting in a 

 small clump of cypress trees. Incuba- 

 tion begun. 



So far as I have been able to deter- 

 mine incubation lasts from ten to 

 tw^ve days, and the young birds re- 

 main in the nest about two weeks. 

 Immature birds of the year are to be 

 seen on the wing by the first week in 

 •June. 



D. 1. Shepardson. 

 Los Angeles, Cal. 



White-throated Swifts. 



In the latter part of Ai)ril, 191.3, Mr. 

 J. B. Dixon and myself, thinking that 

 the Swifts would surely have laid 

 their full sets of eggs, started for the 

 cliff we had selected for our try at 

 them. We carried 28.") ft. of rope, shot 



gun, ])ick and small bar for prying, 

 camera and egg baskets, as well as 

 lunch and water bottles. 



After a drive of about eight miles 

 from home we arrived at the mouth of 

 the canyon on the south side of which 

 are the cliffs. This canyon is some 

 rough, and made heavy going for me, 

 as I was carrying a short section of 

 ladder in addition to my share of the 

 other equipment. It takes about an 

 hour of good work to arrive at the 

 base of the cliff. In the meantime Mr. 

 Dixon with rope, had ascended by an- 

 other way to the top, and as I was ly- 

 ing on a rock, looking up watching the 

 Swifts in their diving and swinging 

 around the face, he soon came to the 

 edge of the cliff, and made fast the 

 rope. Over it came, like a long brown 

 snake shooting down, but failed to 

 reach the bottom by some ten or fif- 

 teen feet. After several efforts of 

 scrambling on my part, and heaving 

 on Dixon's part, we finally worked to 

 where I succeeded in getting hold of 

 it. 



During this time we had succeeded 

 in locating several of the little black 

 and white birds, darting into cracks 

 and crevices and one, the nearest to 

 the bottom, only about forty feet up, 

 looked as though maybe, I could see, 

 with the aid of a mirror where the 

 nest was. With some effort I arrived 

 at this crack and upon flashing the 

 light into it saw a nest, also the bird 

 farther back in the crack. The nest 

 was empty and the bird seemed to be 

 dead, head out of sight and wings 

 spread out, so told Dixon that I would 

 get the carcass out as she had gotten 

 caught and was dead, and that there 

 were no eggs for us. I was surprised, 

 to say the least, when upon trying to 

 hook her out with a wire I carried, to 

 have her turn around and start for me. 

 I guess if she had been a little faster 

 she would have knocked me off the 



