File:American ornithology for the home and school (1902) (14750265865).jpg

Identifier: americanornithol21902reed (find matches)
Title: American ornithology for the home and school
Year: 1901 (1900s)
Authors: Reed, Chester A. (Chester Albert), 1876-1912
Subjects: Birds
Publisher: Worcester, Mass. : C.K. Reed
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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new to science and publishedin various journals abroad. The Swift as a rule is quite quiet during flight, but sometimeswhen flying up and down the canyons where they breed, theygive vent to a series of twittering notes, that are uttered with stillgreater emphasis when they are disturbed by a gunshot or other-wise alarmed when within their nest holes. I believe that theirmating is done entirely upon the wing and it is certain that theyfeed in no other way. That the intelligence shown by these birds in the selection oftheir nesting sites, is universal throughout their range, is shown bythe following from Bendires: At San Diego, Cal., they winter inabundance, and are frequently seen feeding along the beach northof Point Loma. A colony was found nesting on Coronado Islandon May 20, but the nests were inaccessible; they were - placed be-hind loose slabs of rock which had become detatched from the faceof the cliffs, and from 20 to 30 feet above the water level. At AMERICAN ORNITHOL OGV. 359
Text Appearing After Image:
From a colored drawing by Dr. Shufeldt. WHITE-THROATED SWIFT. 360 AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. Guadulupe Island, this Swift was very abundant; the ragged,precipitous slides of the island, composed of lava and perforatedwith thousands of holes and crevices, furnish an abundance of nest-ing sites, and it is quite probable that this species is resident therethroughout the year. At the time of my visit, in May, I foundWhite-throated Swifts everywhere, from the top of the island at4000 feet elevation, to the beach, and birds were constantly seen toenter holes in the crags ; but in each case the nest was as inacces-sible as it is possible for a nest to be. On May 18th a Swift wasseen to enter a hole in the face of a bluff, within eight feet of itsbase; even this proved to be as safe as the rest, as the nest wasfound to be out of sight and several feet back, in a narrow crackin the lava.

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