462 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Selasphorus platycercus, Gould. / d. 



BROAD-TAILED HUMMING-BIRD. 



Trochihis i>latijccrcus, Sw. I'liilu.-.. May. I, 1627, 4-11 (Jle.Kico). ScUtsplwnis platycercus, 

 Gould, Mon. Tiochilid. or Humming- Birds, iii, May, 1S52. — IUikd, Birds N. Am. 

 1858, 135, pi. -xliii, ligs. 1 and 2. — CoorER, Pr. Cal. Ac. 1868 (Lake Tahoe). —Is. 

 Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 357. Ornisinia tricolor. Lesson, Colibris, 125 (no date), pi. xiv 

 (Brazil). — Ib. Trochilide. 1831, ISO, pi. Ix (Mexico). —J.utuiNE, Nat. Lib. II, 77, 

 pi, xiii. Ornisimja iiwntana. Lesson, Trochilid. 1831, 161, pi. Lxiii, adult, and 163 ; 

 pi. Ixiv, young (Mexico). 



Sp. Cii.\r. Outer primaries greatly attenuated at the end and turned outward. Outer 

 tail-feathers nearly linear, but widening a little from the base ; its width .20 of an inch. 



Tail slightly graduated and emar- 



ginate. Male above and on the 

 sides metallic green ; chin and 

 throat light reddish-purple, be- 

 hind which, and along the belly 

 to the tail, is a good deal of white. 

 Wings and tail dusky purplish ; 

 the tail-feathers, excepting the 

 internal and external ones, edged 

 towards the base with light 

 cinnamon. Female without the 

 metallic gorget ; the throat-feath- 

 ers with dusky centres. The tail 

 somewhat cuneate, as in the male, 

 the feathers loss pointed ; the outer three cinnamon-rufous at base (this extending some- 

 what along the outer edges), then black, and broadly tipped with white (much a,s in the 

 male Atthis heloisa), the inner two feathers green, the fourth with black spot at end, and 

 only edged at base with rufous. The sides and crissum also tinged with' cinnamon. 

 Length, 3.50 ; wing, 1.92 ; tail, 1.40. Bill, gape, .80. 



Had. Table-lands of Mexico and Rocky Mountains, and Middle Province of LTnited 

 States, north to Wyoming Territory; Uintah, Wahsatch, and East Humboldt Mountains 

 (Riugw.vy) ; Sierra Nevada (Cooper) ; Cordova (Scl. P. Z. S, 185G, 2S8) ; Guatemala 

 (ScL. Ibis, I, 129); Arizona (Codes, P. A. N. S, 1866, .57). 



A decided character of this species among its North American relatives is 

 the rufdu.s outer border of the exterior tail-feathers. This rufous in S. rufus 

 perv^ades most of the feathers, instead of being restricted as above. Females 

 of the two species are not dissimilar : those of S. platycercus are larger, less 

 rufous beneath ; the tail-leathers broader and less pointed, and with the 

 inner two (on each side) entirely green to base (the fourth edged with 

 rufous), instead of being principally rufous, except at tip. 



Specimens from IMirador, Mexico, are undistinguislialjle from those of 

 Fort Bridger ; those from Guatemala are .smaller than the iMexican. 



Habits. Until recently tliis ITumming-Bird has been presumed to be an 

 exclusively Mexican and Central American species. Until taken within our 

 limits, it had been supposed to be confined on tlie north to the Mexican plateau, 



Selasphorus plati/crrcus. 



