388 BULLETIN 17 6, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



It has been recorded from extreme eastern California, Inyo Moun- 

 tains, and eastward as far as western Nebraska and western Texas. 

 M. P. Skinner says, in his notes from Yellowstone National Park: 

 "I have seen this little bird at all altitudes from the lowest up to 

 8,000 feet above sea level. I have seen it in the open, in lodge-pole 

 pine forest, and in alder thickets." Mr. Kidgway (1892) says: "In 

 the Rocky Mountain district proper, as in Colorado, for example, it 

 breeds at an elevation of from 4,000 to 11,000 feet, and I found it 

 having about the same vertical range in the East Humboldt Moun- 

 tains." Dr. Jean M. Linsdale (1938) found that "the broad-tailed 

 ]unnmingbird made up almost the entire hummingbird population 

 of the Toyabe Mountains," in Nevada, where "observations indicated 

 that the normal habitat for this species is close to mountain streams." 

 We found it in the Huachuca Mountains, Ariz., mainly along the 

 swift mountain streams, at altitudes of from about 5,000 to 7,000 feet. 

 Mr. Swai-th (1904) says: "It is possible that this species remains in 

 the Huachucas through the winter as I saw a male bird near the 

 base of the mountains on February 28, 1903; and though not at all 

 common, I saw and heard them a number of times through the month 

 of March. It was the middle of April before they began to appear 

 in any numbers, and from then on they became more and more 

 abundant. At this time they were seen at a low altitude and along 

 the canyons; but after the summer rains began and the grass and 

 flowers sprung up, I found them mostly in the highest parts of the 

 range. * * * They breed in the highest parts of the mountains, 

 often in the pines and at a considerable distance from the ground." 

 Dr. Mearns (1890) writes: "This beautiful hummingbird is an 

 inhabitant of the highest land of Arizona, being rarely encountered 

 until one is well within the spruce belt, when it suddenly becomes 

 extremely plentiful. About springs and willow-edged water-courses 

 swarms of these gay birds congregate. * * * jt ranges to the 

 very summit of San Francisco Mountain, being abundant in the high- 

 est timber." And Mrs. Bailey (1928) says: 



The Broad-tailod Hummingbird, witli tlie deep rose gorget and green crown, 

 is one of the most abundant birds of the New Mexico mountain region. Its 

 characteristic machine-like clicking, suggestive of the buzz of the cicada, made, 

 Mr. Henshaw explains, by the "attenuation of the outer primaries," was heard 

 by us at all levels from the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains at 7,400 

 feet up to 12,700 feet at the highest terrace on the side of Wheeler Peak where 

 there was water ; for during the season it follows the successively blooming 

 flowers up the mountain sides. * * * 



The Broad-tails are seen not only in the uninhabited mountains but occa- 

 sionally in towns. On the campus of the Santa Fe Indian School Mr. Jensen 

 found two pairs nesting in 1921 and 1922; and in front of a hotel in Rincon in 

 1920 Mr. Ligon saw one playing in the spray of a lawn sprinkler. 



