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 Jan., 1915 THE NESTING OF THE BLACK SWIFT 9 time he wrote he had neatly labelled skins of Cypseloidfs niger borealis, Aero- nautes melanoleucus and Chaetura vauxi ranged alongside in his cabinet. A keen eye and unquenchable enthusiasm for field work, together with twenty years experience at Santa Cruz, had left this man of forty the possessor of a nearly complete collection of both skins and eggs of the local birds. He was in a position, therefore, to know, and to know that he knew when he spoke of Black Swifts. It was double pity, too, that we heard him first with unbe- lieving ears, because this patient student of nature proves to be a man of many pleasant qualities. Hospitable and generous to a fault, he is also vivacious aud humorously picturesque in speech. His nind is well stored with incident and example of bird-lore, and his enthusiasm in things out-of-doors is so con- tagious that he makes an ideal field companion..For all this. Mr. Vrooman has never traveled largely, save to and from his old home in New York State, and he has kept his ornithological light under an ancient bushel. But if Mr. Vrooman fell silent over the skeptieisln which greeted his an- nouncements, he did not remain idle. Every succeeding June found him searching the sea-cliffs of that indented shoreline west of Santa Cruz for a Fig. 5. A BIT OF SANTA CRUZ COAST stretch of thirty lniles. Battling with the unceasing wind which rages along that coast, he erept along ledges, peered over precipices, shook his rattle-can do;vn wave-lashed hollows, or else lay on his back for hours at a time, trying to unravel the purposes of solne wandering Cypseloides. Failure attended his early efforts as often as success. Of the thirteen seasons spent in this quest since the original discovery, four ;vent unrewarded. Nevertheless, as the years passed, and acquaintance with this bird of mystery deepened, the patient seeker was able to determine certain laws which govern the Black Swift's moveincurs and choices, insomuch that he is fairly confident of being able to nake at least one nesting location each season. What these laws are, it is no purpose of this present article to inquire; for we hold it self evident that the discoverer deserves his luck,--in this instance at least; but we ;viii give an unvarnished account of what befell us under the guidance of this genial naturalist on the 22rid of June last. The June location of the season of 1914 was nade some dozen miles west of Santa Cruz. Even Mr. Vrooman did not know the precise spot from which