TROCHILID^ — THE HUMMING-BIRDS. 



451 



Trochilus alexandri. 



The chief characters of this species are to be found in the violet, 

 steel-bhie, or. steel-green reflections of the hinder part of the gorget, vary- 

 ing with the situation of the feathers and the specimen, as distinguished 

 from the bright fiery or coppery red of the other. The chin and upper 

 part of the throat extending beneath the eyes ^ 



are opaque velvety or greenish black, without 

 metallic lustre, while in T. colubris it is only the 

 extreme chin which is thus dull in appearance. 

 The bill is about .10 of an inch longer, the tail 

 less deeply forked, and tinged with green at the 

 end. 



It is exceedingly difiicult to distinguish the female of this species from 



that of T. colubris. The size is rather 

 larger, and tlie tail rounded, without any 

 distinct emargination ; the middle feathers 

 being .15 of an incli longer than the lateral 

 ones, instead of actually sliorter. The 

 color is much the same. The primaries 

 are also much broader in the present spe- 

 cies. 



In both species the outer tail-feathers, 

 though broader than in the male, are quite 

 acutely pointed on the terminal third, one 

 side or the other of which is slightly concave, instead of being linear to near 

 the end, and rounded without any concavity, as in Selasjjhorus and Calypte. 



Habits. This Humming-Bird, originally described as a Mexican species, 

 is found from the highlands of that republic northward, not only to the 

 southern borders of the western United States, but as far north as the oStli 

 parallel It was first discovered on the table-lands of Mexico, east of the 

 city, by Signer Floresi, a distinguished naturalist, who devoted himself to 

 the study of the Trochilidce of Mexico, but was first added to the fauna of 

 North America by Dr. Heermann, who detected it, and obtained several 

 specimens, within the burying-ground of Sacramento City, Cal. There sev- 

 eral pairs remained during the period of incubation, and reared their young, 

 finding both food and shelter among the flowering plants of that cemetery. 

 He found several of their nests which were essentially similar to the T. 

 colubris. 



Dr. Cooper met with this species along the Mohave Eiver. He saw the 

 first on the 3d of June. He also found one of their nests built in a dark 

 willow-thicket in the fork of a tree, eight feet from the ground. Those 

 afterwards found near Santa Barbara were all built near the end of hanging 

 branches of the sycamore, constructed of white down from willow catkins, 

 agglutinated by the bird's saliva, and thus fastened to the branch on which 

 it rested. These were built in the latter part of April, and early in May 



Troi/iilus aleiandri 



