May, 1909 
WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS ON SEOVER MOUNTAIN 
79 
no swifts were in sight, but on one occasion a bird was in the crevice and remained 
there during our examination of the nest. The nest was visited May 23, but the 
bird was on the nest and would not flush. On May 24 there was another egg and 
as there were no more on May 28, we decided it was time to secure the nest and 
eggs if possible. 
The first thing to be done was to cut some notches in the rock for a foot-hold, 
so that we would be able to steady the rope while removing the nest, for of course 
it would not do to take any risks. The next thing to do was to cut away the rock 
from below until we could get a hand under the nest. This was accomplisht 
little by little on all of our trips so that on May 28 a half-hour of work was 
sufficient to get the rock out of the way. The bird was poked off the nest with a 
stick after several attempts to “shoo” it off, and the nest cut away from the rock 
with a long stick in the form of a chisel. The nest and eggs were removed from 
the crevice, placed in a box and passed to Mr. Matthews on the ground by means of 
a string. As I stood there and observed the nest and four eggs I realized how 
SLOVER MOUNTAIN AS IT APPEARS FROM COLTON, CALIFORNIA; ARROW POINTS 
TO PLACE WHERE WHITE-THROATED SWIFTS WERE NESTING 
lucky I was to secure the eggs of the White-throated Swift and how many 
ornithologists would envy me. 
The nest was composed of straw, feathers, waste, and cotton, without any 
special lining. There were no sticks or twigs in the composition and it seemed to 
get most of its strength from the large feathers. It was not artistic or strong but 
with two solid walls of rock to support the sides it probably would last for more 
than one season if the insects, with which it was overrun, did not injure 
it. The dimensions of the nest were one inch deep inside and two inches 
deep outside; 2E>X2^ inches inside diameter, and 3]4X2 inches outside diam- 
eter. The four eggs are pure white in color, narrowly elliptical in form, 
one end being slightly smaller. The eggs taken by me are very uniform 
in size and measure in inches: .83X.55; .81X.56; .83X.55; .81X.56. Hence the 
eggs are a little smaller than those described by Mr. Walter E. Bryant in the 
