lO Richmond, The Cayenne Szvift. Fja'^ 



by mere accident. It was, then, quite a surprise to meet with a 

 nest during one of my daily collecting trips. Early in the morn- 

 ing of August 23, while returning from a short tramp, I had 

 almost reached the edge of the forest, when my attention was 

 drawn to a mixed company of birds feeding in an immense tree 

 which stood directly in my path. Among the birds were Monte- 

 zuma Yellow-tails, two species of Toucans, and some small 

 Parrots. Wounding a Yellow-tail, I was endeavoring to keep it 

 in sight, when a small bird dashed in from an opening in the 

 forest and with an upward sweep disappeared on the trunk of the 

 tree at a point about 70 feet from the ground. Its movements 

 were so sudden and unexpected that by the time I realized just 

 where the bird had disappeared, it had entered its nest, a 

 peculiar structure eight or nine inches long, which was attached 

 to the under surface of the trunk, and so nearly resembled it in 

 its smooth grayish appearance that under other circumstances it 

 would have escaped notice. When first observed, the nest was 

 still quivering from the ingress of the bird, proving it to be of a 

 soft yielding nature. It was attached to the trunk, probably by 

 the saliva of the bird, but this point could not be definitely learned. 



It was of almost exactly the same color as the bark ; the 

 entrance, at the bottom, was very large, nearly the diameter of 

 the nest at the lower part, which appeared to be about three 

 inches, with a slight bulging at the upper end. 



On shooting at the nest there was a struggle inside, which 

 shook it considerably, and presently the bird appeared at the 

 entrance and fell to the ground. To my astonishment, it was a 

 Cayenne Swift, and on dissection proved to be a male. There 

 were no indications that the bird was nesting, and the probabil- 

 ities are that it was simply using the nest as a place of refuge 

 during rainy weather. 



On visiting the place next day with a pair of field glasses, I 

 could determine little concerning the composition of the nest, 

 except that it had the appearance of being stuccoed with some 

 material resembling the bark in color. 



The plate accompanying this number of 'The Auk' gives a 

 very life-like figure of the bird and its nest, although the bird in 

 flight, as above mentioned, spreads its tail only at irregular 

 intervals. 



