4l6 



111-: w inTi-:-Tiii« txTi 



•:i) Iv' 



\ II'T 



5. narrnwly siil)clliptical. 0.87 x 0.52. white" (C'om-st. Si'asoit: May and juiu-. 



General Ran](e. — Wi'steni I'liitctl States from tlic Rocky Mountains to tlio 

 rai'ific. iiorili Id Montana. Malio. and southern I'.ritish Cohnnhia ( ( )kanagan 

 N'allev I ; soulli in winter to (luateniala. 



Range in Washington. — Known only from tlie valley of tlic Columbia near 

 Chelan, the (iranil Coulee (near C0I1I Sprinj^ Lake I. and the Casea<le Pass. 



Authorities. — Dawson, Auk, Xl\ ., iSyj, p. 175. 



Specimens. — C. 



SW M*"!', swifter, swiftest, will best express the relations of our Wash- 

 ington Cypscli. where the jiositive degree is represented by the \'aiix Swift, 

 the comparative by the l>lack Cloud Swift, and the superlative by the White- 

 throat. \o one who is troubled with acrophobia, the fear of high places, 

 should attempt to spy upon the nesting haunts of these Swifts from alvive; 

 for when to the ordinary terrors of a sheer cliff, say a thousand feet in 

 height, is ad<le<l the hurtling passage of resentful Swifts flashing about like 

 hurled scimetars. the situation will try the strongest nerve. X'iewed from 

 below, in the o])en air. the evolutions of these birds may be rcganleil with 

 some degree of e(|uanimity; but when a Swift dii)s toward the ground, or 

 measures its spectl acrt)ss the face of S'- , e, one sees 



what a really frightful velocity ..^^^ 

 is attained. There is no exact 

 way of measuring this, but an 

 estimate of five miles per minute 

 would be well within the mark. 

 and six imt imreasonablc. The 

 bird, that is, would recp'ire nnlv 



PlioiP by tlif Author 

 Takrn in Dnutlat Cotinly 



COI.II Sl'Kl.M. I..VKI;. 



MTC'TIIIOATED SWirTJ KMT OK Till rUCCiriTOlS WALLS or Tli 



