Rufous Humming-bird 255 



successively increasing elevations by the same parents, 

 but direct proof ot this seems very difficult to 

 obtain. 



A rather remarkable nesting-place for this species was 

 noticed and photographed by Warren (Plate 8). The 

 nest was fixed on a spiral-shaped electric-light fixture, 

 on a porch in front of a house in Colorado Springs. 

 Although the house was occupied and the porch was 

 constantly being used, two young ones were successfully 

 reared and flew away. 



Rufous Humming-bird. Selasphorus rufus. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 433 — Colorado Records — Henshaw 75, p. 375 ; 

 Drew 81, p. 140 ; 85, p. 17 ; Morrison 88, p. 107 ; 89, p. 146 ; Ridgway 

 90, p. 343 ; Cooke 97, pp. 86, 162, 208 ; Henderson 03, p. 235 ; 09, 

 p. 232 ; Rockwell 08, p. 165. 



Description. — Male — Above rufous-brown with a patch of metallic 

 green on the crown and also sometimes on the back ; wings purplish- 

 dusky, the outer primary narrowed, falcate and bent inwards ; below, 

 tail like the back, but with a little dusky purplish at the edge and tip, 

 the central pair of feathers broad and rather narrowed and pointed at 

 the tip, the next pair nicked near the tip of the inner web, the outer 

 one considerably nari'owed ; below, the gorget coppery-red, somewhat 

 prolonged at the corners into a ruff ; breast white, posteriorly rufous- 

 brown, rather paler than above. Length 3-4; wing 1-6; tail -9; 

 culmen -65. 



The female above is chiefly metallic green overlying the rufous ; 

 the male characters of the wings and tail hardly show ; the middle 

 tail-feathers are rufous, darkening at the tip ; the others cinnamon, 

 then purplish, then white ; the gorget is absent, but the throat is white, 

 usually spotted with metallic — scarlet or greenish in some lights ; the 

 rest of the under-parts washed with rufous. 



Distribution. — Western North America from southern Alaska south 

 to the mountains of southern California, east to Wyoming, Colorado 

 and western Texas ; in winter south to Oaxaca in Mexico. 



The Rufous Humming-bird is not common in Colorado except perhaps 

 in the extreme south-west, where in La Plata and San Juan cos. it is 

 said to breed from 6,500 to 10,500 feet by Drew and Morrison. It 

 was first taken in the State by Aiken at Fort Garland, August 12th, 

 1874. It is rare along the eastern foothills ; Aiken met with it at 

 Ramah in July, 1897, and noticed one in a garden in Colorado Springs, 



