HUMMINGIURnS 



187 



dozen blossoms, and then tlilled away. I'ast 

 were tlie days of loitering about on i)()plar 

 twigs or preening herself on the peach tree. It 

 was ])lain that she had set up a home for her- 

 self, and the mussy state of her once nicely kept 

 breast feathers told the tale, — she had a nest 

 somewhere. \'ainlv, however, did I try t(5 track 

 her home : she cither took her way like an arrow 

 across the garden to a row of very tall locusts, 



where a hundred liuininingbirds' nests might 

 iiavc been hidden, or turned the other way over 

 a neighbor's field to a cluster of thickly grown 

 ai)i)le trees, equally imjjossible to search. If she 

 had always gone one way I might have tried to 

 follow, but to look for her infinitesimal nest at 

 ()])|)osite poles of the earth was too discouraging, 

 even if the weather had been cool enough for 

 .such exertion. Olivic Tiiokne Miller. 



RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD 

 Selasphorus rufus (Gniclin) 



A. O. U. Number 433 



Other Name. — Rufous Hummer. 



General Description. — LfMRtli : niaU'. 3 i"„ iinlu's ; 

 female, 3 -Jo inches. Prevailing color of male, red; 

 female is bronze-green above and whitish below. 



Color. — Adult M.\le : Crown, dull metallic bronze 

 or bronze-green ; rest of upper parts, including lores, 

 eyes and ear regions, and greater part of tail, plain 

 ciuuatiwii-rufous, the back sometimes glossed with 

 metallic bronze-green ; tail-feathers with an area of 

 purplish or bronzy dusky ; wings, dark brown-slate or 

 dusky, faintly glossed with purple ; chin, and throat, 

 brilliant metallic scarlet; chest, white passing througli 

 cinnamon-buff into cimiamon-rufous on rest of under 

 parts ; the under tail-coverts, whitish basally ; thigh 

 tufts, white; bill, dull black; iris, dark brown. Adui.t 

 1'emale: Above, metallic green; chin, throat, and 

 chest, dull white, the throat usually with tips of some 

 of the feathers metallic orange-red or scarlet (changing 

 to golden and greenish), sometimes with a large patch 

 of this color; rest of under parts, cinnamon-rufous; 

 fading into dull buffy whitish on breast and abdomen ; 

 under tail-coverts pale cinnamon-rufous or cinnamon- 

 buff centrally, broadly margined with white or Iniffy 

 white. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : In ferns, bushes, trees, 

 and vines, near creeks; constructed of willow-floss and 

 soft plant-down, covered over with lichens. Eccs : Not 

 distinguishable from those of the Ruby-throat, except 

 that they average slightly smaller. 



Distribution. — Western North America; north to 

 coast district of Alaska as far as latitude 6l° ; east to 

 ."Mbcrta, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and New 

 Me.xico ; breeding southward to higher mountains of 

 New Mexico and Arizona, northern California atid 

 southward along coast to Santa Clara County and in 

 Sierra Nevada at least to Calaveras County, as well as 

 locally throughout the general range; in winter soine 

 migrating southward to Lower California, Santa Bar- 

 bara Islands, and over highlands of Mexico. 



Photo by W. L. Finlcy and II. T ll.ilil:;, ,i 

 RUFOUS HUMMINGBIRD 



I was standing on the hillside one May morn- in the sky. Then he dropped headlong like a 



ing when I saw a Rufous Hummingbird coiue real meteor, his gorget putTed out and his tail 



down like the rush of a rocket. He turned and s[)read wide. He veered just above the bushes 



whirled up til! T could see but the tiniest speck with a sound like a whip drawn through the air 



