RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD 403 



Food. — The rufous liummingbird finds its nectar and probably its 

 insect food in a great variety of flowers and in the blossoms of trees 

 and shrubs, showing a decided preference for red flowers. Mr. 

 Hasldn, writing from Oregon, tells me that "early in spring the 

 crimson-flowered currant is their favorite flower, next to that they 

 resort in great numbers to another red flower, the columbine. Of 

 white flowers, their favorite is the blossom of the madrona tree 

 {Arhiitus mensiesii), whose flowers are perfect honey pots. A tree 

 of the madrona in full bloom attracts them literally by the hundreds." 

 Frank L. Farley writes to me that in Alberta in July and August 

 "its favorite flower appears to be the bright -colored nasturtium." 



M. P. Skinner says, in his notes from California, that it feeds on 

 red columbine and "paint brush." Of its insect hunting, he says: 

 "Another individual alighted on some willow twigs beside a river 

 and watched for the insects that flew by at frequent intervals. Twice 

 it rose 5 or 6 feet for one and then dropped back to its perch. Twice 

 it caught an insect 40 feet above its perch, showing what keen eyes 

 it had. Then it made a dizzying swift dart down among the willows. 

 After that this bird came back at intervals all through the morning 

 to do the same kind of insect hunting over the willows and over the 

 river waters." 



Mrs. Bailey (1902) writes: 



On the birds' breeding ground the flowers they feed on, as far as I have 

 observed, are mainly red, as the hummer's coloration might suggest. On 

 San Francisco Mountain, Arizona, they were especially fond of the scarlet 

 pentstemons. On Mount Shasta they fed from the painted-cups, tiger lilies, and 

 columbines. Any spot of red would attract them as it does other hummers, 

 and they investigated it fearlessly even when it adorned the person of a 

 collector. 



One of the birds actually crossed a wide meadow of green brakes straight 

 to a single columbine standing most inconspicuously near the woods. But the 

 painted cups were their especial delight on Shasta, and a meadow full of 

 the flowers was fairly alive with them. 



William H. Kobbe (1900) says that, in Washington, about Cape 

 Disappointment, "they are particularly abundant about the flowering 

 salmon-berry bushes and also the thimble-berry, but they seemed to 

 be fonder of the honeysuckle blossoms than of either of the others." 

 Dr. A. M. Woodbury (1938) saw a rufous hummingbird feeding at 

 the working of a red-naped sapsucker on some willows; they were 

 apparently eating the sap that exuded, but may have been obtaining 

 some of the insects that were attracted to the workings. 



Harry S. Swarth (1922) relates the following story: "For a 

 hummingbird to appear as a menace to a farm crop was a new role 

 for a member of that family, but we heard of one such complaint of 



