54 PASSERES. HIRUNDINID^E. 



hour before sunset, after rain, the Piramidigs which 

 first appeared were presently joined by the great 

 collared Swift, which careered with them in num- 

 bers. Again, about 11 o'clock in the forenoon, in 

 May, three of these birds swept overhead, heavy rain 

 already falling on the mountain, and beginning to 

 reach the spot where I was. My lad Sam, one day 

 about noon, observed as many as a dozen passing 

 in a flock, in straight and rapid course, when black 

 clouds, already gathered round the mountain brow, 

 threatened rain, which however passed away to leeward. 

 A few days after, a little earlier in the day, and in 

 exactly similar weather, or rather amidst the first 

 large drops of a heavy rainstorm, he saw three 

 flying so low as nearly to skim the ground; two 

 pursuing in mazy course a third, from which pro- 

 ceeded, now and then, a singular vibratory sound, 

 which Sam imitated by the word "churr." This 

 singular sound, which again reminds one of the 

 Goatsuckers, was also uttered by two, which, about 

 the same season and hour, and in similar weather, 

 were careering swiftly over Bluefields towards the 

 mountain peaks. 



Having mentioned the occurrence of this bird 

 to my notice, in a letter to Mr. Hill, he favoured 

 me with the following interesting account of his 

 own acquaintance with the species. " * * * The 

 month was March, the early part of March, when 

 the bleak northerly winds of February had ex- 

 hausted and blighted all vegetation, and the lower 

 range of the St. Andrews mountains, with their 

 steep and angular declivities walling in the plains, 



