322 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1890. 



vember fog in England, except that the yellow element is wanting, then it is that 

 Eugenes fulgens appears in uiunbers; Ainazilia devillei, instead of a few scattered 

 birds, is to be seen in every tree, and Trochilus colubris in great abundance. Such ani- 

 mation awakes iu Huniming Bird life as would hardly be credited by one who had 

 passed the same spot an hour or two before; and the flying to and fro, the humming 

 of wings, the momentary and prolonged contests, and the inci'ssant battle cries seem 

 almost enough for a time to turn the head of a lover of these things. I have fifteen 

 males from Dueiias to one female. 



The Rivoli Huuimiug Bird was first added to the fauna of the United 

 States by Mr. H. W. Heushaw, while acting in the capacity of natu- 

 ralist to Lieutenant Wheeler's expedition, under the auspices of the 

 Engineer Department, U. S. Army. On September 24, 1873, a single 

 immature female was taken by him in the immediate vicinity of Camp 

 Grant, Arizona. It was found along a small stream issuing from the 

 mountains, and when first seen was being pursued by another hummer 

 which Mr. Heushaw is sure was the same species. The following year, 

 he again found it in that Territory, though not iu the same locality. 



Fully expecting [says he*] to find this species a summer inhabitant of the moun- 

 tain districts of southern Arizona, I was not surprised when, on reaching Mount Gra- 

 ham, I found the supposition verified. During the first three days of August I 

 secured two adult males and another female. In talking with the lumbermen of the 

 neighborhood I learned that the large Huuiming-Birds had been quite common ear- 

 lier iu the summer, but at that time they had nearly disappeared, though the smaller 

 birds(S. platycereiis) were still quite n imerous. Isuppose that duriug the ujatiug sea- 

 sou they had made themselves more conspicuous, and indeed had probably frequented 

 the little valley iu which the cabins of these men were built in considerable num- 

 bers, but had retired, each to some secluded spot deeper in the mountains to rear 

 their young. 



A very beautiful nest was discovered, which save its large size resembles in its 

 construction the best eflbrts of the little eastern Ruby Throat. It is composed of 

 mosses nicely woven into an almost circular cup, the interior possessing a lining of 

 the softest and downiest feathers, while the exterior is elaborately covered with lich- 

 ens, which are securely bound ou by a network of the finest silk from spiders' webs. 

 It was saddled on the horizontal limb of an alder, about twenty feet above the bed 

 of a running mountain stream, iu a glen which was overarched and shadowed by 

 several huge spruces, making it one of the most shady and retired nooks that could 

 be imagined. The two yOuug which it contained had just been hatched, and the 

 female was returning to the nest when I caught sight of her, having probably car- 

 ried away the broken eggshell, fragments of which were still iu the nest. The 

 dimensions of the nest are as follows: Depth, externally, 1.50; internally, 0.75; 

 greatest external diameter, 2.25: internal diameter, 1.15. 



Tiie most recent information that we have respecting the habits of 

 this species is by Mr. Otho C Poling, iu The Auk for October, 1890 

 (pages 402, 403), which is as follows: 



This Humming Bird is a summer resident in the Huachuca Mountains, Arizona. It 

 arrives iu May, but is nowhere plentiful until the mescal shrubs begin to blossom, 

 about the middle of June. From this time on during the entire summer one may 

 observe on almost any hillside below the pine belt large clusters of bright red or yel- 

 low flowers spreading out from the stalks 10 or 15 feet high. There are many vari- 



* Ornithology of Wheeler's Exp., i875, pp. 379, 380. 



