RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD 409 



but about the middle of July they begin to make their appearance; 

 and throughout the month of August I found them very abundant, 

 but frequenting the highest parts of the mountains, principally ; more 

 being seen between 8000 and 9000 feet than elsewhere. 



"The flowering mescal stalks are a great attraction to them, and 

 they seem to frequent them in preference to anything else. I have 

 seen as many as twenty Rufous Hummingbirds around a single stalk, 

 mostly immature birds, but with a fair sprinlding of adult males. 

 No adult females were taken at any time." 



Grinnell and Storer (1924) say of the migration in the Yosemite 

 region, in California : 



Most of the northbound movement probably takes place at low altitudes and 

 in any event occurs too early in the spring to be observed by most visitors 

 in the Yosemite section. Ihit the migration initiated in late June or eai'ly July 

 continues until the middle of September, and especially at the higher altitudes 

 is much in evidence. * * * 



The first representatives of the species to be seen in the southbound migration 

 are males. Thus the bird seen near Yosemite Point on July 1 was a fully 

 adult male, as it showed an all-rufous back. But later in the same month the 

 females and their young began to pass through. Of the birds seen in Lyell 

 Canon on July 23 at least one was a female (immature). The southbound 

 migration was evidently in full swing by that date as no less than 5 separate 

 individuals were seen during two or three hours spent on the meadows and 

 Mdjacent slopes. 



A visit to Parsons Peak on September 6, 1915, showed that the migration 

 was still in progress, and further, that the liufous Hummingbirds were 

 evidently using the crest of the Sierra Nevada as a fly-way. During the short 

 time spent at the top of the peak, 12,120 feet, two of these dimunutive travelers 

 were seen flying southward, laboring against the strong southerly breeze ; both 

 took advantage of the same gap in the rocks to gain a slight respite from the 

 buffeting of the wind. Other observers have told us of similar incidents noted 

 by them while visiting i^eaks elsewhere along the backbone of the Sierra 

 Nevada. 



Mr. Woods (1927) says of Los Angeles County lowlands: "The 

 adult male is only an occasional visitant on the southward migration 

 in late summer, though the females, or more probably immature birds 

 of both sexes, are seen more freciuently." The inference from all the 

 foregoing observations is that the northward migration in spring 

 is mainly through the lower levels and chiefly to the westward of 

 the main mountain chains and that the southward migration in fall 

 follows mainly the crests of the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra 

 Nevada. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — ^Western North America. 



Breeding range. — The breeding range of the rufous hummingbird 

 extends north to southeastern Alaska (Montague Island, probably 

 Cordova, and Carcross) . East to eastern Alaska (Carcross) ; British 



