430 XORTII AMKIUCAN BIRDS. 



In the innntli of Juno tlu'V came evorv dav towards noon, whenever it 

 threatened to rain, and sonietinu's returned a<j[ain after sunset. Wlien tired 

 of tlieir exfreise tljey always tiew toi^etlier t(jwards tlie mountains, where lie 

 h.id no douht their hrerdin;^'-|da('es existed. He states that when one of 

 tliese birds tlies in chase of anotlier, it emits a soft continued note, not 

 unlike a sonj;. Having taken numv vouni; birtls in the month of dune, he 

 supposes that tliese Swifts hreeil in April and May. 



It is stated hy Sumichrast to liave been occasionally met with in tlie table- 

 lands of Mexico, and that it is resident and breeds within tlu^ State of Vera 

 Cruz, Mexico. 



A sin-ile specimen of this bird was known to Gosse to have been taken 

 near Sj>anishtown in Jamaica, in 184)), in company with many otliers. Mr. 

 March, in his paper on the birtls of this island, gives a similar account of 

 the habits of this species to that of I)r. Gundlach. He states that it was 

 rarely seen except at early dawu, or in dull and cloudy weather, or after 

 Klin in an afternoon. He has sometimes i>rocured specimens from Health- 

 sliire and the St. Catharine Hills. The only place known to him as their 

 actual resort is a cave in the lower St. Catharine Hills, near the ferry, 

 wliere they harbor in the narrow deep galleries and fissures of the limestone 

 rocks. 



Mr. J. K. Lord cites this species as among the earliest of the spring vis- 

 itors seen l)y him in British Columbia. On a foggy morning early in June, 

 the insects being low, these birds were hovering close to the ground, and he 

 obtained four specimens. He saw no more until the fall of the year, when 

 they again made their appearance in large inimbers, among the many other 

 birds of that season. He again saw this Swift at Fort Colville. 



Captain Prevost, II. X , obtained a single^ specimen of this bird on Van- 

 couver Island, which Mr. Sclater compared with Gosse's CypscJus niger, 

 from Jamaica. He, however, is not satisfied as to their identity, and is 

 inclined to regard the two birds as distinct. 



According to Captain Feilner, this species breeds in the middle of June, 

 on high rocks on the Klamath River, about eight miles above Judah's 

 Cave. 



The Black Swift was seen by Mr. Ridgway, during his western tour, only 

 once, when, about the middle of June, an assembly of several hundreds 

 was observed early one morning hovering over the Carson River, below 

 Fort Churchill, in Nevada. In the immediate vicinity was an immense 

 rocky clift', wliere he supposed they nested. In their flight they much re- 

 sembled Cliimney-Swallows (Chretiira), only they appeared much larger. 

 Tliey were perfectly silent. On the Truckee River, near Pyramid Lake, 

 in May of the same year, he found the remains of one which had been 

 killed by a hawk, but the species was not seen there alive. 



