33 
PICARIAN BIRDS. 
caught glimpses of single specimens of this bird here and there, and sometimes in 
most unexpected places. Once, far out on the open prairie, in the north-western 
part of the United States, a magnificent adult swift of this species shot by me 
with the velocity of a meteor, his white flank-patches contrasting conspicuously 
with his black-brown body and wings. It was not, however, until I came to Fort 
Wingate that the opportunity was really afforded me to more intimately study and 
observe this swift in its favourite haunts; for all through North-Western New 
Mexico occur deep, even-walled canons of rock, to which M. melanoleucas resorts 
to rear its young. Early in the spring of 1885 (April) I found some two dozen 
pairs of them in just such a canon about three miles west of Fort Wingate. The 
walls of this magnificent gorge are of solid rock, being nearly three hundred feet 
deep in some places, and for the most part roughly perpendicular, though frequently 
arching over and outwards at their summits. It was within the deep and crack¬ 
like fissures seen in the walls of the eaves of these latter recesses, away high up on 
either side of this rocky chasm, that the swift resorted to lay its eggs. So wisely 
had every pair of these birds chosen the cleft wherein their nests were hidden 
that all my plans and attempts to secure a set of eggs proved futile. . . . From the 
extent of their wings the birds of this family appear formed to live in the air, 
where, in fact, they pass the most of their time, gliding about in extensive circles 
without effort, and apparently little motion of the wings. This ease of flight 
stands them in good need in their migratory movements, allowing them readily to 
pass into warmer climes. During pleasant weather they find their insect-prey in 
the upper air, but when cloudy or rainy we find them skimming the ground in 
their pursuit. When on the ground, the shortness and weakness of their legs, 
added to their length of wing, incapacitates them from again rising in the air; 
hence I have several times seen the European species (M. apus ) picked up in 
the streets of Geneva, Switzerland, having fallen there during a quarrel with its 
fellows. When they wish to take rest during the day, which is rare, they always 
alight on some elevated point, whence they can throw themselves into the air and 
take to wing. Though numbers were flying about the rocks near Tucson, I heard 
them utter no note. Sociable among themselves, gathering in large flocks, they 
never mingle with their nearly related brethren the swallows. They generally 
construct their nests in the crevices of rocks or the holes in old buildings; many 
species have secretory glands, exuding a glutinous substance with which to fasten 
them firmly. The eggs, from four to six in number, are pure white, and of an 
elongated form.” 
Feather-Toed The two species constituting this genus, although resembling 
Swifts. the pied swift in the feathering of the toes, differ in the form of 
the tail, the outer feathers of which are pointed. The Cayenne species (Panyptila 
cayennensis) ranges through Colombia, Guiana, and Amazonia; while Salvin’s 
swift (P. sancti-hieromini ) inhabits Guatemala. The latter is an unusually 
beautiful bird for such a dull-coloured family; its general hue being silky 
black, with a narrow white collar round the hinder part of the neck; while the 
wings and tail also show a good deal of white at the bases of the feathers. 
Writing of a nest devoid of eggs, which he found in Guatemala, Mr. Salvin 
observes that “ in this nest we see the saliva of the bird used as an adhesive 
