May, 1893.] BIRDS OF THE DEATH VALLEY EXPEDITION. 55 



Chaetura vauxii. Vaux's Swift. 



Vaux's swift was seen a few times only in the valleys on each side 

 of the Sierra Nevada. Mr. Stephens saw it nearly every day and se- 

 cured a specimen at Olancha, near the south end of Owens Lake, where 

 it was migrating, May 16-23. 



Mr. Belding saw large flocks in the Yosemite Valley. The writer 

 saw a few at Three Rivers, in the western foothills of the Sierra, Sep- 

 tember 13-14, and at Visalia on September 18. 



Aeronautes melanoleucus. White-throated Swift. 



White-throated swifts were common at a number of places in the 

 desert valleys and ranges daring the spring and summer. In Johnson 

 Canon, in the Panamint Mountains, Oalif., Mr. Palmer saw one March 26, 

 and Mr. Nelson secured one near the same place, April 12. The latter 

 observer found the species to be a common summer resident in por- 

 tions of the Panamint and Grapevine mountains visited. The last of 

 May he saw them going in and out of crevices in the steep walls above 

 Willow' Creek, and in June found them frequenting the cliffs in Cotton- 

 wood Canon, 750 meters (2,500 feet) above Salt Wells, and observed them 

 about the cliffs in Boundary Caiion in the Grapevine Range. They were 

 frequently seen in the morning and evening hunting over Saline Valley. 

 In the Panimint Mountains north of Telescope Peak, Mr. Bailey and 

 the writer saw several hundred of these swifts flying back and forth 

 over a hillside, and a few above the summit of the peak, June 23. The 

 males uttered at short intervals a series of notes which, when a num- 

 ber joined in the performance, produced a not unpleasant impression. 

 In Death Valley Dr. Merriam saw a flock at Mesquite Wells, April 8; 

 Mr. Burnett saw individuals flying over the reservoir at Furnace Creek, 

 April 15 ; and the writer killed a number of specimens at the latter 

 place, June 20. In the Argus Range swifts were seen in Shepherd 

 Canon the last of April, and along the divide above Maturango Spring 

 during the first half of May. 



In Nevada Dr. Merriam saw several at Pahroc Spring, May 22; at Ash 

 Meadows, May 30; and in Oasis Valley and the upper part of Amargosa 

 Desert, June 1, when they were observed in aerial coition. In Utah Dr. 

 Merriam saw several small flocks in the Lower Santa Clara Valley, May 

 11-15. Mr. Nelson found it breeding in the Inyo Mountains, Calif., June 

 24-July 4, and sparingly in the White Mountains in July. White- 

 throated swifts were common in many places in Owens Valley, espe- 

 cially about the meadows at Owens Lake and at the mouth of the caiion s. 

 Along the South Fork of the Kern River they were tolerably common 

 the first week in July, and a few were seen flying over the Sequoia 

 National Park the first week in August. Mr. Nelson found them at the 

 head of Owens River; also along all the streams visited on the western 

 slope of the Sierra, and in the Yosemite Valley up to timber line. They 

 bred everywhere in crevices in the canon walls. He saw several flocks 

 in the Ojai Valley in December. 



