NBPnCECETES BOREALIS. 505 



oilier witli tlieir strong claws, come wliirling 'to the ground, just before 

 reaching wliich they would loosen their clutches and separate, or after 

 again ascending resume the struggle. Others hovered around overhead, and 

 without seeming aware of our presence, entered, now and tlien, the small 

 horizontal lissures in the overhanging cliff to their nests, which were utterly 

 inaccessible. 



Specimens of this bird were extremely dilHcult to procure frcMu the 

 fact that most of those shot fell among the rocks where they could not bo 

 i-eached, while when away from the clitl's they tlew at too great a height to 

 be reached with shot. 



The notes of this Swift are strong and rattling, sometimes rather shrill, 

 certain ones resembling very nuich the chatter of young Baltimore Ori(jles 

 {Icterus halt'more) as uttered while being fed by tlieir parents. 

 List of specimens. 



S.'S, <J (1(1; Camp 10, East Humboldt Mountains, July 13, ]S(!8. G]^.— 133— (?)_ 

 4^. Bill, deep black; iris, dark bister; tarsi aud toes, pale livid i)inkisli; uaked eye- 

 lid.s, sepia-brown. 



837, 9 "'?•; S'Uie locality and date. Oi— 14_(?)_4J J,. 



SK), (J ad.,- same locality, July L'0, 1808. 7— 1-li— (?)— 5. Interior of moutli, livid 

 flesh-color. 



NePHCECETES NIGER, 

 Black 8iviM. 



/?. hon'aUs. 



Ci/pselus bormlis, Kennkkly, Vv. Ac. Nat. Sei. Pliilad., 1857, 202. 



Nephacetes niger var. horealis, CoUES, Key, 1872, 183; Cheek List, 1873, No. 270. 



Nephxcetes niger. b. horealis, CoUES, Birds N.W., 1874, 269. 



Nephoeeetes niger, Baird, Birds N. Am., 1858, 142; Cat. N. Am. Birds, 1850, No. 

 108, [not Eirundo nigra, Gmel., 1788, = Nephwcetes 'J. — Cooper, Oru. Cal., I, 

 1S70, 349.— B. B. & R., Hist. N. Am. B., 429, pi. XLV, fig. 4. 



The occurrence of this Swift in the valley of the Truckee was made 

 known to us only through the discovery of the remains of an individual 

 which had been devoured by a hawk or owl, the sternum, wings, tail, and 

 feet having been left upon a log in a cotton-wood grove. On the 23d of 



'The West Indian form. 



