g6 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 



arid grass lands in whicii grow scattered clumps of the various palmetto-like 

 palms. Among the dry, pendant, dead fans of these trees the Swifts stick 

 their watch-pocket nests, usually in large colonies. They range abroad, 

 hawking swiftly through the whole day, never alighting to rest except 

 among the hanging leaves of the nesting-tree. As with so many birds, col- 

 onies do not occur in all of the localities which strike one as being most 

 suitable, but nevertheless this characteristic little bird, smaller than our 

 Chimney Swift but with similar flight, is one which every visitor may hope 

 to observe, given reasonably good fortune. 



172. Archilochus colubris (Linne). 



RUBY-TURO.ATED HuMMINGBIRD; ZuNZUN.' 



A not uncommon migrant. My observations agree with those of 

 Gundlach, that it usually is seen along the northern coast and in the early 

 spring. 



173. Calypte helenae (Lembeye). 

 Pajaro AIosca; Zunzuncito. 



This fairy Hummer was first found by Gundlach in a woodland near 

 Cardenas in 1844 and in 1848, sucking the iiowers of the majagua, a tree 

 Hybiscus. Then this tract was cleared and he found none until April, 1858, 

 when he saw them feeding on the majagua and on magueyes or aloes. 

 They had disappeared by the end of April, and Gundlach supposed they 

 retired to the coast cays, for there he found them in July. He observed 

 others in September in the mountains near Guantanamo, and later found 

 that they visited the agaves about Santiago every February. Males in 

 full plumage he always considered very rare. 



Every spring the pigmy Hummers visit the agaves near Cojimar, and 

 many are caught with bird lime, but apparently these are always immature 

 examples. Neither Brooks nor I- ever saw a single adult until one day we 

 located one, singing a thin, reedy song from the dead topmost twig of a 



'This and the following species are regularly confused and called Zunzun or Zumbador, indis- 

 criminately. Picaflor or Visitafior are names in use in Central .\merica and sometimes in Cuba, but 

 used by or learned from Mexicans or others from the mainland. 



