HUMMINGBIRDS 



i8i 



green ; wings, dark brownish-slate or dusky, faintly 

 glossed with purple or purplish-bronze; chin and tliroat, 

 brilliant metallic emerald-green, this brilliant green area 

 extending much farther backward laterally than cen- 

 trally; chest and upper breast, velvety-black or bronze- 

 green, passing into dusky-bronze or bronze-green on 

 lower breast, this into grayish-brown or sooty-grayish 

 on abdomen and flanks; thigh and anal tufts, white; 

 a small white spot or streak back of eye (sometimes a 

 whitish rictal streak also) ; under tail-coverts, light 

 brownish-gray (.sometimes glossed with bronze or 

 bronze-green) margined with whitish; bill, dull black; 

 iris, dark brown. Adult Fe.m.xle: Above, including 

 four middle tail-feathers, bronze-green, the crown 

 duller (sometimes dull grayish-brown in front) ; three 

 outer tail-feathers (on each side) with basal half 

 bronze-green, then black, the tip brownish-gray, this 

 broadest on outermost feather, much smaller on third ; 



wings, as in adult male; a white streak back of eye 

 and below this a dusky area ; under parts, brownish- 

 gray or bufTy-grayish, glossed laterally with metallic 

 bronze or bronze-green, the feathers of chin and throat 

 margined with paler or with dull grayish-white; pro- 

 ducing a scaly appearance; thigh and anal tufts, white; 

 under tail-coverts, brownish-gray (sometimes glossed 

 with bronze-green), margined with pale brownish-gray 

 or dull whitish ; bill, etc., as in adult male. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : In sycamores, maples, or 

 lirs usually about 40 feetup; constructed of silky plant 

 libers, grass tips, lined with sycamore down and coated 

 with lichens, fastened on with cobwebs. Eggs: 2, 

 white. 



Distribution. — Mountains of southern Arizona, 

 southwestern New Mexico, extreme western Texas, 

 Mexico, and Central America southward to Nica- 

 ragua. 



The distinctive fact about this Hiininicr is 

 that it doesn't hum, at least not in the way which 

 makes that term more or less accurate in 

 describing the sound made by the wings of other 

 members of the family. Even when the flight of 

 the bird is exceedingly rapid, which it often is, 

 the whir of its wings is more like the buzz of 

 a big bumblebee or beetle than the almost musi- 

 cal drone made by the flight of other Hummers. 

 Moreover the flight of this species is often so 

 deliberate, comparatively speaking, that the out- 

 line of its wings may actually be seen, whereas 

 the little pinions of other Hummers are seen 

 onlv as faint areas of mist on either side of the 

 body. The tail of the male Rivoli is slightly 

 forked while that of the female is double 

 rounded. 



Many years ago it was established beyond a 

 doubt that the diet of Hummingbirds consists 

 largely of insects, rather than solely of nectar; 

 but the latter notion is likely to persist indefi- 

 nitely because it is a poetic one which appeals 

 to the imagination, and seems in keeping with 

 the fairy-like character of this mite of a bird. 

 The Rivoli Hummer, however, not only depends 

 largely upon insects for its food, but captures 

 many of them in flight. This it often does in 

 the most approved flycatcher manner, by lying in 

 wait, perched on a dead limb in a tree-top, and 

 dashing out after passing insects, few of which 

 have any chance to escape the speed and cer- 

 tainty of this little hunter's movements. The 

 insects found in flowers of honeysuckle and 

 agave are its favorites. 



BLUE-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD 

 Cyanolaemus clemencias (Lesson) 



A. O. V. Number 427 



Other Names. — Blue-throated Casique ; Blue- 

 tlirnatcd Hummer. 



General Description. — Length, 5':^ inches. Upper 

 parts, green ; under parts, brownish-gray. 



Color. — Adult M/\le: Above, rather dull metallic 

 bronze-green, passing into olive-bronze on rump, where 

 the feathers have narrow terminal margins of pale 

 brownish-gray; upper tail-coverts, dusky (sometimes 

 faintly glossed with greenish or bluish), narrowly and 

 indistinctly margined with paler ; tail, black, faintly 

 glossed with bluish, the outer feathers tipped with 

 white ; wings, dark brownish-slate color or dusky, very 

 faintly glossed with purplish ; a conspicuous white 

 streak back of eye extending obliquely backward and 

 downward behind upper rear margin of ear region, the 

 latter, together with the lores and space below eye. 



plain dusky; a chin streak of whitish (this soinetimes 

 obsolete) ; chin and throat, metallic blue, the feathers 

 very narrowly and indistinctly margined with brownish- 

 gray ; rest of under parts, plain deep brownish-gray or 

 brownish-slate color, the under tail-coverts broadly 

 margined with white; thigh and anal tufts and tuft on 

 each side of rump, white; bill, dull black; iris, dark 

 brown. Adult Fem.m.e: Similar to the adult male, 

 but blue of throat replaced by the general dull brownish- 

 gray of under parts. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: In fork of shrub or 

 sapling, or on a fern ; a handsome structure of fine 

 mosses smoothly felted together and lined with down 

 of willow catkins. Eggs: 2. white. 



Distribution. — Western Texas, southern Arizona, 

 southwestern New Mexico, and Mexico. 



