THE BIEDS OP HAITI AND THE DOMINICAN" REPUBLIC 321 



collected several at St. Raphael January 10 and 13, 1929. There is a 

 skin in the Academy of Natural Sciences taken at Anse a Galets, 

 Gonave Island July 20, 1927, by J. T. Emlen, jr. As indicated above, 

 the cliff swallow nests ordinarily in caves and in clefts and crevices 

 in cliffs. Related swallows elsewhere, with human settlement, have 

 changed their primitive habits and now nest regularly about build- 

 ings and other structures erected by man. It is possible that Vieil- 

 lot's birds that at the close of the eighteenth century flew into 

 the windows of his house were in search of nesting sites, and it is 

 probable that with coming modern developments this cliff swallow 

 may change its nesting habits decidedly as is already the case 

 with those found about the bridge at Cap-Haitien. Cherrie in 

 1895 describes the lining of nests of this bird as a soft, cottony 

 material from the seed pods of a native tree, which may be the 

 same as the soft brownish white fiber that Abbott found in nests 

 collected along the south side of Samana Bay, west of San Lorenzo 

 in April, 1921, which E. C. Leonard informs us appears to be from 

 the fruit of a bombax {Pachira emarginata A. Rich.) These nests 

 found by Abbott were built of mud placed in sheltered crannies, 

 some only two or three feet above high water. He collected six 

 sets, three of two eggs, and three containing three. The eggs are 

 elongate oval, in color white, spotted rather boldly with mikado 

 brown, warm sepia, and gray, the markings distributed over the en- 

 tire surface with usually a greater concentration about the larger 

 end to form a wreath that is more or less distinct according to the 

 specimen. A few have the spots very fine and small. One egg 

 examined has the ground color cartridge buff. Following are meas- 

 urements in millimeters of those specimens that are entire : April 

 9, 1921, set of two, 19.6 by 13.5, 20.0 by 13.4; set of three, 18.5 by 

 14.2, 18.6 by 14.1, 19.7 by 14.2; April 12, 1921, set of two, 18.7 by 

 14.5, 19.5 by 14.3; set of two, 19.9 by 14.4, 19.9 by 14.5 and set of 

 three, 19.2 by 14.3, 20.1 by 13.8, 20.2 by 14.2. On Tortue Island 

 July 6, 1917, Abbott found many of these swallows nesting in a cave 

 about half a mile inland from the coast and collected a set of two 

 eggs, in form very long and pointed which measure as follows; 

 21.4 by 13.8 and 21.4 by 13.8 mm. In the cave above the Bassin 

 Zime beyond Hinche on April 24, 1927, Wetmore found a consider- 

 able colony of these birds nesting in the darker shadows near the 

 entrance. Their nests were constructed from dried pellets of mud 

 built against the rock to form a cup that in some cases was en- 

 closed above with a small entrance in the side. Other birds built 

 up a mere ledge of earth with a bit of nesting material behind it. 

 One pair had utilized a natural cavity of the proper size, filling in 



