412 



rill-: I'.i.AcK swii-r. 



iMiiing l'i>r si-\eral succossixc days, 

 al'UT which tlicv would ahsctit tlicni- 

 M-lvis ti>r a month. Again, at early 

 Mil lining, wf have seen them filing thru 

 C'aMade Pass troni west to east, hot- 

 wing, as tlio thev iiad business in 

 Idaho. 



These Black Swifts nest chielly in 

 the mountains uihiii the face of inac- 

 cessible clitTs. This much we know, 

 but the nest and eggs are still un- 

 known". The closest call which tliese 

 elusive fowls have had at nesting time 

 is thus ie|x>ited by .Major Bendire'': 

 "The only locality where I have ob- 

 served this sjiecies was on the uit]>er 

 l."oluml)ia River, opixisite Lake Chelan. 

 Washington, ill July. i^J>). Here quite 

 ;i colony nested in a high iRM|»endicular 

 lilT on the south side of and alH>ut a 

 lile liack from the river, ami numlH'rs 

 1 them tlew to ami from the valley 

 ilow. where they were feeding The 

 'lay was a cloudy one. and the slow 

 drizzling rain was falling nearly the 

 niiire time I was there: this caused 

 the birds to tly low and they were easily 

 identitied. They evidently had young, 

 .iiid the twitterings of the latter could 

 re.idily be heard as soon as a bird 

 entered one of the numerous crevices 

 in the dilT alxive. This was iilterlv 



.T. Thc*c wor<l* arc uvA a^lvi^illy. The caw rc- 

 I'TtccI from tlic «cawall of Santa Criif Couniy. Cali- 

 - rnia. claim* nti nc«t and only ottf ckk- tf *hi^ ^ "<*' 

 t'a«c of mi^ulcntificalion. then il i< an example of 

 ' .ik nculinn utterly at variance »ith all Swift tradi- 

 n«, and with much that i* actually known concerning 

 .■ hahil« of this *|iecie». 



I he cla<«ic inMance rciwrted from Seattle in the col- 

 ,.iiin» of the Auk (Vol. V,. '»», p. 414) of a nenl 

 "made of »tra»«. chipv paper, etc.." proved to concern 

 the handiwork of tlie Purple Martin {Proimt /iiku). 

 hut the mistake wa« a not unnatural one in view of 

 ilic then rarity of the Martin, 

 b. Life IIi«t. N. .\. Bird". Vol. II. 1895. p. 1,-6 



Taien in Chelan 



C.\SC.\I>K P.\SS. 

 luc ai-AcK twiris ii«\k aux siix. 



