262 TlMEHRI. 



States certainly occurs on the highlands, having been 

 obtained on the slopes around Roraima, but whether 

 these specimens were migrants or not, there is nothing 

 to show. So, too, in the case of the Small American Red- 

 start or Flycatcher (Setophaga rutacilla), which was 

 obtained in the same distridt. 



Even as regards the birds obtained on or near the 

 coast, belonging to species that are migrants in the 

 north, it is not always possible to determine whether 

 they are true migrant forms here or not. So little is 

 known locally about many of our species, especially of 

 the smaller kinds, that there is no comparison possible as 

 to their relative abundance in the different parts of the 

 year; and though it would seem that species occurring 

 here in the summer are residents, yet where only one or 

 two specimens have been noted, they may possibly be 

 migrants that have remained behind. There is this diffi- 

 culty in the case as regards the Water Thrush (Sciurus 

 noevius) which is a common migrant in the northern 

 regions. 



The Purple Martin, on the other hand appears to be 

 one of our true migrants. In the case of the swallows, 

 all of them birds of great flight, and many of them pre- 

 ferring the haunts of man, the question becomes a simpler 

 one. In the White-breasted Purple Martin (Progne 

 chalybea) , and the Common Martin (P. taperajy we 

 know that the birds are constant residents, being abun- 

 dant throughout the year, and nesting usually under the 

 eaves or on'the ledges and supports of the houses. 



The Sand Martn and the Red-brea'^ted or Barn Swal- 

 low, which are so common in the northern latitudes 

 during the summer, appear to be true migrants here also, 



