BUFF-BELLIED HUMMINGBIRD 445 



table fiber, thistle down, and an occasional specimen is lined with a vegetable 

 substance resembling brown cattle hair ; but the majority are lined with thistle 

 down. The outside is covered with bits of dry flower blossoms, shreds of bark, 

 and small pieces of light-colored lichens, securely fastened in place by spider 

 webs. The nests are neatly built, and are usually saddled on a small, drooping 

 limb, or placed on a fork of a horizontal twig, at distances of from 3 to 8 

 feet from the ground. Small trees or bushes of the Anachuita {Cordia hoissieri) 

 ebony and hackberry seem to furnish tlieir favorite nesting sites, though occa- 

 sionally a nest is found in a willow. An average-sized nest measures 1% inches 

 in outer diameter by 1^/4 inches in height ; the inner cup is seven-eighths of an 

 inch in width by five-eights of an inch in depth. Open woods and the edges of 

 chaparral thickets near roads or paths seem to be preferred for purposes of 

 uidification. Probably two broods are raised in a season. The earliest nesting 

 record I have is April 23 ; the latest June 16. 



There are three nests of the buff-bellied hummingbird in the 

 Thayer collection in Cambridge, one collected in Tamaulipas, Mexico, 

 and two in Cameron County, Tex. The latter two compare very well 

 with the nests described above, in location, in size, and in materials 

 used in construction. But the Tamaulipas nest, collected on April 15, 

 1908, is quite different; it is a very tall structure, apparently a series 

 of three nests built upon the top of one another, perhaps the work of 

 three seasons or the home of three broods; it measures 2i/2 inches in 

 overall height and 1^ inches in external diameter; the imier cavity 

 is 1 inch in diameter and is hollowed to the depth of 1 inch, this 

 hollow being nearly twice as deep as in the other nests. The nest is 

 made of thistledown, some with the seeds attached, and other woolly 

 substances, reinforced with very fine twigs, weed stems, small dry 

 leaves, strips of inner bark and lichens, all bound together with spider 

 webs; and it is lined with pale buff down. 



Eggs. — So far as I know, the buff-bellied hummingbird always lays 

 two eggs. These are oval or elliptical-oval and pure white. The 

 measurements of 50 eggs average 13.24 by 8.65 millimeters; the eggs 

 showing the four extremes measure 15.3 by 8.9, 14.0 by 9.4, and 11.8 by 

 7.7 millimeters. 



Plumages. — The sexes are alike in all plumages, and young birds 

 are much like their parents, although the green of the throat is more 

 mixed with grayish buff. 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — Coastal regions of southern Texas and eastern Mexico. 



The buff-bellied hummingbird breeds north to the lower Rio Grande 

 Valley in Texas (Brownsville). From this point the range extends 

 southward through eastern Tamaulipas (Matamoros and Altamira) ; 

 eastern San Luis Potosi (Valles) ; Veracruz (Tampico, Cordoba, and 

 Tlacotalapan) ; Yucatan (Merida) ; Quintana Roo (Palmul and 

 Acomal) ; to Chiapas (Ocozucuantla). 



