CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD 427 



The stand of one male was on a telephone wire directly above quantities of 

 flowers to which a female frequently came. Another male divided his time 

 among the growing tips of three closely adjacent young yellow pines slightly 

 overtopping a sea of snow-brush. Another perched chiefly on one of the highest 

 twigs of a service-berry thicket in an opening among firs. One male was 

 established on the tallest, scrub black oak tip, driving away from the vicinity 

 any approaching forager. 



Grinnell and Storer (1924) write: 



The males of all our hummingbirds are accustomed to harass birds many 

 times their own size. A Calliope at Mono Meadow was seen to put a Wright 

 Flycatcher to rout, the latter seeking seclusion in a ceanothus thicket. In 

 Yosemite Valley another was seen driving at a Western Robin that was on the 

 ground. The hummer would mount as much as 30 feet into the air and then 

 dash down at the robin. Even Red-tailed Hawks are sometimes "attacked" by 

 these pugnacious midgets. * * * 



Like other hummingbirds the Calliope is often attracted by red objects. 

 Whether this is a voluntary action based on esthetic appeal, or a reflex based 

 on food-getting instinct, is problematic. At Chinquapin, on June 14, a female of 

 this species darted into the front of our open tent and poised with seeming 

 interest before a red-labeled baking powder can on the table. Then the bird 

 went out into the sunshine, but it returned again twice before finally going 

 away. Two of our three August records of this species were of individuals 

 which were attracted in the same manner, the object being a red handkerchief 

 in one case, and a sweater of the same color in the other. 



Apparently the calliope is not always so aggressive or so pugna- 

 cious as are some other hummingbirds, for Henshaw (1886) says that 

 it is "much less obtrusive, and in the contests of its larger neighbors 

 it takes no part. When assailed, as it promptly is by the other kinds, 

 it at once darts away to another spot where it can feed without moles- 

 tation. It appears to be timid in every way, so much so that it is not 

 an easy bird to collect." 



Mr. Wyman (1920) says: "Ordinarily the Black-chins, of which a 

 few haunted the same locality, would drive the Calliopes unmerci- 

 fully. Once, however, a male Calliope shot close beside me up the 

 hillside, just grazing the grass-tips, driving at a Black-chin that 

 was quietly feeding. Within two feet of the latter he mounted verti- 

 cally about thirty feet, then dropped like a plummet on the feeding 

 bird, and both flashed down the hill-side with Calliope doing the 

 chasing." 



Aretas A. Saunders (1915) observed a bird of this species that 

 "was very belligerent in protecting her home from all birds and 

 other animals that approached too closely. A pine squirrel had 

 ventured into the tree and the mother hummer chased it away imme- 

 diately, following it a long way through the trees and darting at it 

 first from one side and then from the other. The nest contained 

 half -grown young when first found." 



