HELOISE'S HUMMINGBIRD 419 



small a bird. The voice, although weak, was not squeaky. In its 

 intensity, its variety of phrasing, and its rising and falling cadences 

 the song reminded me not a little of the higher notes of a small finch 

 and often suggested the impassioned conclusion of the lay of the 

 little black-and-white Morellet's seedeater {Sporophila morelletii) 

 of the lowlands. The hummingbird frequently sang without a pause 

 for thirty or forty seconds. Were his song only a little more force- 

 ful, without any change of tune or phrasing, Elliot's hummingbird 

 would be famous as a musician. 



"As he poured forth his sweet, impassioned little lay, the hum- 

 mingbird spread the stiff feathers of his gorget, which then ap- 

 peared to form a scaly shield covering the throat, and turned his 

 head from side to side. The feathers at the sides of the shield, longer 

 than the rest, formed sharp points at the lower corners. When the 

 bird faced directly toward me, the gorget reflected an intense magenta 

 light; but as the head slowly turned away the color was gradually 

 extinguished, and the shield, seen from the side, appeared velvety 

 black. At certain angles, it sent a metallic-gTeen reflection to my 

 eye. At times the little singer vibrated his wings in his ecstasy, and 

 either floated slowly to another perch or suspended himself in mid- 

 air on invisible pinions, all without interrupting his song. At times 

 he made a long, looping flight, returning again to the perch from 

 which he started, and continued his singing during the entire 

 journey." 



Robert T, Moore found four species of hummingbirds feeding on 

 the flowering tree in southeastern Sinaloa, referred to in his notes on 

 the white-eared hummingbird. Among them was another race of 

 this species, Margaret's hummingbird {Atthis heloisa margarethae), 

 of which he says in his notes : 



"Much the smallest of the four and one of the tiniest members of 

 the family, this near relative of the so-called Morcom's hummingbird 

 of Arizona flew into the tree at rare intervals. If the broad-tailed 

 and Calliope hummers, of which there were always five or six, were 

 feeding from the tree, Atthis would be permitted to probe the least 

 attractive blooms. She experienced little difficulty in finding a few 

 of the forty thousand flowerets, which had not already been deprived 

 of their sweets. But when a single male white-ear blustered in 

 among the busy gleaners, he would invariably launch an assault on 

 the rare gem of the mountain and drive it away to the thicker growth 

 of pines. For the time Atthis had to be content with a more frugal 

 repast on the scarce blooms of lahiatae, which starred the pine-needle 

 floor of the forest with spikes of maroon-colored flowers. Mar- 

 garet's hummingbird probably feeds from several kinds of flowers, 

 but we actually observed it doing so from only three. In addition 



