SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 337 
manifestations in the admirably-balanced system 
of creation ! 
The specific characters of these three species, 
whose northern range I believe was first defined 
by myself, are briefly as follows :— 
Selasphorus rufus (the Nootka or Red-backed 
Hummingbird).—Male: tail strong and wedge- 
shaped ; upper parts, lower tail-coverts, and back, 
cinnamon; throat coppery red, with a well-de- 
veloped ruff of the same, bordered with a white 
collar ; tail-feathers cinnamon, striped with pur- 
plish-brown. Female: plain, cinnamon on the 
back, replaced with green; traces only of me- 
tallic feathers on the throat. Length of male, 
3°50; wing, 1°56; tail, 1°31 inches. Habitat: 
West coast of North America to lat. 53° N., ex- 
tending its range southward through California, 
to the Rio Grande. 
Stellata Calliope.—Male: back bright-green ;. 
wings brownish; neck with a ruff of pinnated 
magenta-coloured feathers, the lower ones much 
elongated; abdomen whitish; length, about 2°75 
inches. Female, much plainer than the male, with 
only a trace of the magenta-coloured ruff. 
Trochilus Alecandri (Black-throated Hum- 
mingbird).—Male: tails lightly forked, the chin 
and upper part of the throat velvety black 
a OM 1: Z 
