Notes on some Cuban Birds. 269 



the bill to the upper part of the eye ; lores black ; sides of the 

 head and throat greyish black ; the rest of the plumage sooty 

 brown, with slight green reflections. Tail forked, composed of 

 ten feathers. Difference between the middle and outer 0.012, 

 the shafts are not strong. First quill the longest, but sometimes 

 it is the second, perhaps in young birds. Bill, feet, and eyes as 

 in the preceding species. The young are distinguished from 

 the adult, by their tail being square, and the feathers of the 

 lower parts have a whitish tint at their ends. 



Length 0.173 



Extent 0.390 



Tail 0.066 



I saw these birds for the first time in the month of May, when 

 they commonly arrived every morning about one hour after 

 sunrise, and flew in a circular direction over the river near 

 Bayamo, at a considerable height, making their evolutions 

 always in the same place, perhaps employed in catching the 

 insects attracted there by the proximity of the river. In the 

 month of June they arrived every day towards noon when it 

 threatened to rain, and sometimes returned again after sunset. 

 The two other species mix with the present in the same flock. 

 When tired of their exercise they always flew together towards 

 the mountains, where I am inclined to suppose exist their breed- 

 ing places. "When one of the birds flies in chase of another, it 

 emits a soft continued note not unlike a song. Having killed 

 many young birds in the month of June, I suppose that they 

 breed in April and May. Mr. Gosse found only one specimen 

 of this bird in Jamaica, which he named Black Swift. 



3. Tachornis iradii, Lemb. 



This bird, described in Lembeye's Birds of Cuba, page 49, and 

 figured in pi. vii. fig. 4, resembles the Tachornis jphenicohius 



