CYPSKLID.-K — THE SWIFTS. 429 



Nephoecetes niger, Baird. 



BLACK SWIFT. 



1 Hiruvdo iiir/rr, Omei,. S. N. I, 1788, 102r>. Cjipschm niger, GossK, B. Jam. 1847, C3. — 

 lu. lllust. H. Jiini. \i\. X. — Gi'SDL. k Lawk. Ann. N. Y. Lyo. VI, 1858, 268. — Sli,. 

 P. Z. S. 1865, 615. Xephncfdc^ niijer, Baikd, Birds N. Am. 1858, 142. — Eli.iot, 

 lllust. Birds N. Am. I, .\.\. — ('iioiM'.ii, Orn. Ciil. I, 1870, 349. C'l/jmlus horcalis, 

 Kenneuly, V. A. N. S. riiiliul. IX, Nov. 1857, 202. —Scl. P. Z. S. 1865, 015. 

 Iliniwlo njms domiiticensi.s, Bkisson", II, 1700, 514, jil. xlvi, (. 3. 



Sp. Cmar. Wing the length ol' the body. General color rather In.stron.'* dark sooty- 

 brown, with a greenish glo.-;.'<, becoming a very little lighter on the brea.^t anteriorly 

 below, but rather more .so on the neck and head above. The feather.s on top of the head 

 edged with light gray, which Corm.s a (■ontiniions wash on each side of the forehead 

 above, and anterior to the usual black crescent in li'ont of the eye. Occasionally sonic 

 feather.s of the inidcr parts behind are narrowly edged with gray. Bill and feet black. 

 Length, i't.ln ; wing, 0.75 ; tail, 3.00, the depth of its fork about .45 in the male, and 

 scarcely .15 in the female. 



Had. Washington Territory, Oregon, Nevada, and Orizaba (var. boreulis) ; Cuba and 

 Jamaica (var. niger), breeds. Vera Cruz ; breeds (Sumichrast, Mem. Bost. Soc. T, oC2). 



The tail is considerably more forked in the male than in the female, in 

 which it is sometimes nearly even, and in the males its depth varies con- 

 siderably. 



Jamaican specimens (var. niger) are rather smaller, considerably blacker, 

 and seem to have narrower tail-feathers, even when the other dimensions are 

 about cqu.al. 



Whether the Pugot Sonnd bird visits the West Indies is not known ; but 

 the difference in size and colors between them and the West Indian birds 

 would seem to indicate th^it they se'ect a mor.3 directly southcrii region. 

 The fact that the Orizaba specimen is most like the Northwest Coast birds 

 favors this latter supi)osition. 



Habits. This Swift is of irregular and local occurrence in the West 

 Indies and in Western North America. Specimens were obtained at Simi- 

 ahmoo Bay, Washington Territory, by Dr. Kennerly, in July, 18r)7. Dr. 

 Cooper saw a black Swift, which he thinks may have been this species, iu 

 Pah-Ute Canon, west of Fort Mohave, May 29, 18G1, and again at Santa 

 Barbara, May, 1863. 



Dr. Gundlach, in his ornithological explorations in Cuba, in 1858, met 

 with this species among the mountains between Cienfuegos and Trinidad, on 

 the southern coast of that island, and also in the eastern parts of the Sierra 

 Maestra. He saw the.se birds for the first time in the month of ^lay, near 

 Bayamo, where they connnonly arrived every morning about one liour after 

 sunrise, and Hew in a circular direction over the river at a considerable 

 height, making their evolutions always in the same jilace, ap])arently em- 

 ployed in catching the insects attractfd by the ])ro.\imity of the river. 



