394 BULLETIN 17 6, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



down in the shallow water, which barely covered their little bodies, 

 and fluttered their wings as they faced upstream; after a few seconds 

 in the cold water, they flew off to a nearby branch to shake them- 

 selves and preen their plumage. Dr. Merriam (1890) says that, on 

 San Francisco Mountain — 



They wake up very early in the morning and go to water at daylight no 

 matter how cold the weather is. During the month of August, and particularly 

 the first half of the month, when the mornings were often quite frosty, hun- 

 dreds of them came to the spring to drink and bathe at break of day. They 

 were like a swarm of bees, buzzing about one's head and darting to and fro m 

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

 water dip their feet and bellies, and rise and shoot away as if propelled by 

 an unseen power. They would often dart at the face of an intruder as if bent 

 on piercing the eye with their needle-like bill, and then poise for a moment 

 almost within reach before turning, when they were again lost m the busy 

 throng. 



Yoice—ThQ loud, screeching sound, referred to by several ob- 

 servers, is probably mechanical, made by the rushing of the air 

 through the flight feathers. Mrs. Bailey (1928) says that "besides 

 their squeaky little song they gave some small staccato notes." And 

 Robert S. Woods (1927b) says: "A rather faint, muffled staccato note 

 is uttered twice in quick succession at the lowest point of its vertically 

 diving nuptial flight." 



Field marks.— The broad-tailed hummingbird suggests the ruby- 

 throated in general appearance, but the rufous edgings in the tail 

 will mark the former, and the ranges of the two hardly come to- 

 gether. Mr. Woods (1927b) writes: 



The appearance of the Broad-tailed Hummingbird is not especially distinctive 

 in any way. The color of the gorget, aside from its somewhat inferior bril- 

 liancy, is very similar to that of Anna's Hummingbird, though showing at some 

 angles a more purplish cast. A convenient recognition mark of the male is 

 the rufous edging of certain of the tail feathers, in conjunction with the 

 solid green color of the back and upper tail-coverts. It may be safely said 

 that the Broad-tailed Hummingbird is much more readily identified by ear 

 than by eye. The loud metallic noise produced by the flight of the male is 

 an agreeable, almost musical sound, clearer in tone than that made by the 

 Rufous, Allen's or Black-chinned Hummingbirds, while the notes of the female 

 seem more liquid than those of other species. 



The rose-pink gorget and the green crown distinguish the broad- 

 tailed from the males of other western hummers. But the females 

 are not so easily recognized ; the female broadtail has less rufous in 

 the tail than the rufous or calliope, only the three outer tail feathers 

 being basally rufous; the calliope is considerably smaller; the female 

 broadtail may be distinguished from the female black-chinned by the 

 presence of some rufous in the flanks of the former. 



Fall— Mr. Henshaw (1886) found the broad-tailed humming- 

 birds "extremely numerous" late in summer in the mountains of New 

 Mexico. He says: 



