THE WHITE-THEOATED SWIFT. 187 



also found it nesting- at San Fernando, Lower California, nearly at sea level, 

 and on top of San Pedro Martir, at 10,000 feet elevation, in May." 



Messrs. Vernon Bailey and J. A. Loring, while collecting for the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, met with the White-throated Swift in the 

 Wind River and Sweet Water mountains, Wyoming, during August and Sep- 

 tember, 1893, and Mr. J. B. White has taken it at Harrison, Nebraska, which 

 marks the eastern limits of its known range. 



Its general habits, food, etc., do not aiifer much from those of the other 

 members of this family found within the United States, and, like them, it usually 

 flies high during clear, sunny weather, while on cloudy days, as well as in the 

 early mornings and again about sundown, it hunts lower down, and is then 

 more readily obtained. In its mode of nidification it differs from both the 

 Chimney and Vaux's Swift, while the Black Swift probably nests in a similar 

 manner. Mr. F. Stephens's description of its nesting habits are fully con- 

 firmed by more recent observations made by Mr. W. B. Judson in Los Angeles 

 County, California, who found a nest of this species during the summer of 

 1894. He writes me: "It was situated about 80 feet from the top of a large 

 cliff and about 125 feet from the ground, in a cave about 7 feet high, 10 feet 

 wide, and extending some 7 feet in the face of the cliff. The nest was placed 

 in a small hole in the roof of the cave, almost too small to get my hand in 

 without enlarging it, and extended about a foot up in the rock, and then there 

 was a small cleft in which it was placed. It was so firmly glued to the rock 

 that it could not be pulled off without tearing it to pieces. The materials of 

 which it was constructed felt soft and spongy; there were apparently no sticks 

 or twigs in it, and it was lined with a few feathers." White-tln-oated Swifts 

 were seen to enter this cave in May, but Mr. Judson did not visit the locality 

 again until late in summer, by which time the birds had reared their young 

 and left the vicinity. 



Since the above was written, Mr. Judson has kindly obtained this nest for 

 me, and I am able, therefore, to give a fuller description, as well as measurements 

 of it. Evidently it has been in use during more than one season, as the vege- 

 table matter composing the base of the nest is quite disintegrated; while a 

 number of good-sized feathers, including some of the California and Turkey 

 Vulture, Red-shafted Flicker, and other species, which are mixed throughout 

 the walls of the structure, are in a somewhat better state of preservation. It 

 measures 5 inches in outer diameter by 2 inches in depth. The inner cup is 

 shallow and appears not to have been over three-fourths of an inch deep. 

 Mixed throughout the nesting material are small pieces of the wing coverts of 

 beetles. The skeleton of a young Swift was also found in the nest. The 

 inner lining consists of fine bark fiber and a few feathers, and apparently no 

 twigs enter into its composition; the shafts of the feathers used, evidently took 

 the place of the ordinary small twigs and weed stems. The call notes of this 

 species are rather louder and shriller than those of the Chimney Swift, but 

 otherwise resem.ble the rattling twitter of the latter. In speaking of- their song 



