ALLEN'S HUMMINGBIRD 415 



female doubtless does all the incubating and assumes full care of the 

 3^oung. After describing so fully the home life of the preceding 

 species, to which the present specjes is so closely related, it hardly 

 seems necessary to enlarge here on the activities of the mother at the 

 nest or on the development of the young. The rufous hummingbird 

 and Allen's are much alike in appearance and behavior; their nest- 

 ing habits are similar; and probably, although I have no notes on 

 the subject, the en re and development of the young follow along the 

 same lines. 



Since the above was written, Robert T. Orr (1939) has published a 

 very full account of the incubation behavior and the care and devel- 

 opment of the young, to which the reader is referred. 



Plumages. — So far as I can learn from the literature and from 

 the examination of specimens, the development of the ju venal 

 plumage of Allen's hummingbird and its subsequent molts and 

 plumages are the same as in the rufous hummingbird. The two 

 species are almost exactly alike, except for the specific differences 

 explained under the field marks of the two, the very narrow lateral 

 rectrices and the greater amount of green in Allen's being the prin- 

 cipal differences. Young male Allen's hummers begin to show red 

 in the throat early in July. I have seen a young male, taken on 

 June 1, that was molting into the adult plumage, some red coming 

 in on the throat, and some of the outer rectrices still white-tipped, 

 as in the ju venal tail, probably a belated molt. 



Food. — I cannot find much in print about the food of Allen's hum- 

 mingbird, which probably does not differ materially from that of 

 other California hummers. Whatever brightly colored flowers hap- 

 pen to be in bloom are resorted to for honey and minute insects and 

 spiders. That they are of service to the plants in cross fertilization 

 is evident from the amount of pollen so often seen on their heads. 

 The tree tobacco is popular with this hummingbird, as are the 

 blossoms of Ceanothus^ madrona, and the flowering stalks of the 

 century plant; the scarlet sage, brightly colored mints, and various 

 other flowers are attractive. Dr. Grinnell (1905b) says that, on 

 Mount Pinos, in July, "masses of monkeyflowers {Mimulus langs- 

 dorfl and cardinaUs), columbines {Aquilegia sp. ?), and other plants 

 {Stachys alhens, GastiUeia grinneUi, etc.) began to burst into bloom 

 during the first week in July about the wet places in the canon 

 bottoms. And these flower masses were the scenes of many noisy 

 revels among the Allen Hummers, sometimes as many as five of the 

 birds taking part in what looked like a free-for-all fight." 



Mr. Woods (1927) says that, on Santa Catalina Island, "towards 

 evening, like other species, they make short sallies in Flycatcher 

 fashion after passing insects too minute to be discerned by the 

 human eye." 



