430 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



In the iiibntli of Juno tliey came every day towards noon, whenever it 

 threatened to rain, and sometimes returned again alter sunset. Wlieu tired 

 of their exercise they always llew together towards the mountains, where lie 

 had no douht their breeding-i)laces existed. He states that when one of 

 these birds flies in cha.se ol' another, it emits a soft continued note, not 

 luilike a song. Having taken many young birds in the month of June, ho 

 supposes that these Swifts lireed in April and May. 



It is stated by Suinichrast to liave been occasionally met with in the table- 

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

 Cruz, Mexico. 



A single specimen of this bird was known to Gosse to have been taken 

 near S]ianishtown in Jamaica, in 1843, in company with many others. Mr. 

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

 the habits of this species to that of Dr. Giuidlach. He states that it was 

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

 luin in an afternoon. He has sometimes procured specimens from Health- 

 shire 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, 

 where 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 by him in Ih'itish 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 matle their appearance in large mimbers, among the many other 

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



Captain Prevost, li N , obtained a single^ specimen of this bird on Van- 

 C(niver Island, which Mr. Sclater compared with Gosse's Cypselus niger, 

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

 inclined to regard the t^o birds as distinct. 



According to Cajitain 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 liy 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 cliff', where he sui)]iosed they nested. In their flight they much re- 

 sembled Chimney-Swallows (Vlifctura), only they ajjpeared much larger. 

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

 in May of the same ye<ar, ho found the remains of one which had been 

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



