THE BLACK-OHINNED HDMMmGBIRD. 201 



Tulare County, California, have perceptibl)' thicker \\alls than those from the 

 warmer lowlands, and are also correspondingly larger. The nests are either 

 saddled on a small, drooping liraneh or on a fork, one or two of the smaller twigs 

 composing this usually being incorporated in the walls and holding it securely 

 ill i)lace. Many of the nests resemble small, tine sponges, and are eqnallv 

 elastic, readily regaining their shape after being squeezed together. Thev are 

 gonc'rally ])laced from 4 to 8 feet from the ground, mostly in the shrubbery 

 found near small creeks or springs, and frequently their nests overhang the 

 water or the dry creek bed. Alders, cottonwoods, oak, sycamore, laurel, and 

 willows are m()st often selected for nesting sites, as well as young orchards, 

 especially apple and orange trees, where they are available. 



In the moT-e southern portions of the range of the Black-chinned Hum- 

 mingbird fresh eggs are occasionally found by Maj^ 1, and as late as the 

 beginning of August. Although most of our Hummingbirds invariably lay but 

 two eggs to a set, nests of this species now and tlien contain three, all evidently 

 laid by the same female, and such instances do not a])pear to be especially rare. 

 Three such cases have come to my knowledge within tlie last few years. Dr. 

 C. Hart Merriam found a set of three in the lower Santa Clara Vallev, Utah, in 

 May, 1891. Mr. F. Stephens took another at Olaucha, Invo County, California, 

 on May l(i, 1801, which is now in the United States National Museum collec- 

 tion, and 3Ir. Fred. H. Fowler obtained still another near Fort Bowie, Arizona, 

 in the sj)ring of 181>3. 



The eggs of the Black-chinned IIummini>bird resemble those of the Rubv- 

 throat in shape and color, l)ut average a trifle smaller. 



The average measurement of fifty-three specimens in the United States 

 National Museum collection is 12.67 by 8.31 millimetres, or about 0.50 by 0.33 

 incli. The largest q^^ of the series measures 13.72 by 8.64 millimetres, or 0.54 

 by 0.34 inch; the smallest, 11.94 by 8.13 millimetres, or 0.47 by 0.32 inch. 



The type specimen. No. 24257 (not figured), from a set of three eggs, was 

 taken Ijy Mr. F. Stephens, on May IG, 1891, near Clancha, Invo County, Cali- 

 fornia, the nest being saddled on a small twig of an apjile tree in a young- 

 orchard, about 7 feet from the ground. 



70. Trochilus violajugulum Jeffries. 



VIOLET-THKOATED HUMMINGBIRD. 

 « 

 Tfochiliix riohijiKiiibnn .(Kl'l'inKS, Auk, V, April, 1888, IGS. 



(I! — , (J — , 1; — , G — , U 429.1. ) 



Geookatiiical RANciE: Southern California (Santa Barbara County). 



The Violet-throated Hummingbird was first described by the late J. Amory 

 Jeffries in "The Auk" (Vol. V, 1888, pp. 168, 169), from a specimen, a male, 

 shot near Santa Barbara, (California, on April 5, 1883, and the type, I believe, 

 still remains unique. Nothing whatever is known regarding its habits or the 

 extent of its range. It a])pears to be a jiei-fectly good species, and was probably 

 a straggler from the south.. 



