1923 BIRDS OF THE SANTA RITA MOUNTAINS 27 



wash and later in the day — perhaps disappointed by the scarcity of blooming 

 flowers — whirred back again with its characteristic rattle, which called to 

 mind the yellow pine country of the San Francisco Mountains. On March. 

 14 and 23 it was also heard, and once a large vanishing hummingbird form 

 was caught sight of overhead. But it was not until April 2 that one visited 

 our improvised hummingbird-flower-garden, coming so close that we could 

 see his burnished bronzy green head and back and his deep rose pink gorget. 

 Another of these noisy hummingbirds came to camp on April 10, but that was 

 the last noted. 



Selasphorus rufus. Rufous Hummingbird 



Three immatures were taken by Howell, August 12, 1918, in Madera Can- 

 yon. 



Selasphorus alleni. Allen Hummingbird 



An adult was taken by Howell, August 4, and an immature, August 12, 

 1918, in Madera Canyon. After meeting with the first of the genus on Aug- 

 ust 4, Howell says, "a trip above 6,000 feet was almost sure to result in one 

 being seen. August 12, I came upon a beautiful spot in a little canyon at 

 about 7,000 feet, grown thick with bracken and lupines in flower. Here in 

 about three acres, there must have been two dozen birds of the genus, chasing 

 each other, feeding, or perching on dead twigs." 



Basilinna leucotis. White-eared Hummingbird 



An immature, ''probably a bird of the previous year", was secured by 

 Stephens, June 24, 1903, at about 5,500 feet. 



Cynanthus latirostris. Broad-billed Hummingbird 



Added to our fauna by Henshaw who took two adult males, August 23, 

 1874, a few miles from Camp Crittenden. Five specimens were taken by Ste- 

 phens in the same locality May 12-19, 1881. Five additional adults were taken 

 by Nelson June 11-July 22, and a juvenile July 11, 1884, at Gardner's Ranch. 

 Two juveniles were seen and one secured by Howell, August 15, 1918, at 5,000 

 feet. The first seen by us was on March 24, and one was taken April 12, 1921, 

 from an ocotillo slope above 4,000 feet. Its wide bill was livid Turkey-Vulture 

 carmine, the under mandible especially so, the upper mandible being blackish 

 at tip. On April 15, one was seen probing the red, stamen-fringed flower tubes 

 of the ocotillo. 



While watching the light-breasted female alexandri and her sycamore- 

 down nest, on April 29, I discovered a large dark hummingbird working on a 

 dark nest close by. The nest was about three and a half feet above the ground 

 on a twig so slanting that it made the top of the cup slant. The sides of the 

 nest were plastered over with the tiny pinnte of weathered mesquite leaves. 



