HUMMINGBIRDS 239 



feather between the rufous and black, the fourth feather green but 

 marked with a terminal or subterminal spot of black, and edg'ed with 

 rufous, tip often white. Male: length 4.UU-4.25, wing- 1.92- 

 2.05, tail 1.40-1.()0, bill .()2-.70. Female : length 4.10-4.70, 

 Aving 2.00-2.10. tail 1.45-1.50, bill .70-.T2. 



Remarks. — The females oi platycercus and rufus must be 

 carefully discriminated. In platycercus the middle tail feath- 

 ers are wholly green, in rufus brown at base ; in platycercus pjg 314 

 the rufous of the outer feathers is basal and of less extent 

 than the black ; in ru/us the rufous equals or exceeds the black ; in 

 platycercus the next to the middle feather is mainly green, in rufus the 

 rufous covers as much ground as the green, black, and white all together ; 

 in platycercus the outer feather is .25 broad, in rufus .12 broad. 



Distribution. — Breeds in Transition and Canadian zones of the Rocky 

 Mountain district from Idaho and Wyoming to mountains of Arizona and 

 New Mexico ; west to the Sierra Nevada ; migrates to Guatemala ; recorded 

 from Oakland. 



Nest. — Usually within 15 feet of the ground on branches of trees, 

 often overhanging a mountain stream, made of willow or Cottonwood down 

 covered with lichen alone, or lichen, bark, leaves, and plant fibers. Eggs: 

 2, white. 



Food. — Insects found on flowers of Castilleia, Fouqueria, Gilia, Agave, 

 and others. 



Major Bendire says that the broad-tailed hummingbirds breed in 

 the lower foothills and valleys on their first amval from the south, 

 but by the time the younij: are able to fly the flowers have ceased 

 blooming and the country is getting so dry that they go to the moun- 

 tain parks to raise their second broods. 



At 9000 feet in the Sacramento jNIountains we found the birds 

 abundant the last of May feeding from the gooseberry bushes. 

 The noise they made in buzzing about the bushes and flying through 

 the air was a metallic rattle strikingly different from the noise made 

 by rufus, colubris, alexandri, or any other hummingbird I had ever 

 heard. In addition to a scjueaky little song the hummers had some 

 small staccato notes. 



When camped at Little Spring, San Francisco Mountain, Dr. Mer- 

 riam found platycercuH very abundant. They came to the spring to 

 drink and bathe at daylight. He says: " They were like a swarm 

 of bees, buzzing about one's head and darting to and fro in every 

 direction. The air was full of them. They would drop down to 

 the water, dip their feet and Ixjllies, and rise and shoot away as if 

 propelled by an unseen jiower. " 



433. Sela.sphorus rufus [GmeL). Rufous Hummingbird. 



.{(lull iiKilt. — (JoigcJ fire red, orange, and brassy green ; general body 

 color hriy/it reddis/t brou-n, glossed with bronzy green on crown and some- 

 times hack, and fading to white next to gorget and on belly ; tail feathers 

 rufous, with dark mesial streaks ; middle tail feather broad, pointed at 

 tip, second from middle deeply nt/tched on inner ireb. sinuated on outer web. 



