214 LIFE HISTORIES OF NOETH AMEllIGAN BIRDS. 



how far it reaches into the interior of this territory is still unknown. In 

 British Columbia it ranges well into the central parts of this province. Mr. R. 

 MacFarlane, to whom Ave are indel)ted for so nuich information regarding North 

 American ornithology in the far north, forwarded a nest and eggSfWith the parent, 

 to the United States National ]\Inseuni. These were taken by him in the vicinity 

 of Fort St. James on June 10, ISSl), while en route to the Hudson l^ay Com- 

 pany's Post, on Stewart's Lake, in about latitude 54° 40'. It is quite likely that it 

 also reaches the province of Alberta, as it is a moderately common sunnner resident 

 in northern Idaho, where I found it breeding near Fort Lapwai on June 27, 1871, 

 and Mr. R. S. Williams writes me from Cobimbia Falls, Montana, that he has 

 found the Rufous Hummer in the valley of the upper Missouri River. Along the 

 eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains it appears to occur somewhat irregularly. 

 ]\Ir. Denis Gale writes me that he saw a single specimen of this Hummer in 

 Boulder County, Colorado, while Mr. William G. Smith reports it as rare in 

 Larimer County, but tolerably common in Arapahoe County, in the same State. 

 Mr. Frank M. Drew reports it as breeding in the Rocky Mountains up to altitudes 

 of 10,500 feet, while in the southern Sierra Nevadas it is even common above 

 timber line. In our Northwestern States, in Oregon and Washington, especially 

 west of the Cascades, as well as in some of the mountain regions of California, 

 northern Arizona, and New Mexico, the Rufous Hummingbird is a very common 

 summer resident. I have never seen anything like such immbers of Humming- 

 birds as I met in the vicinity of Fort Klamath, Oregon, al)out the time this 

 species and the Calliope Hummer passed through there on their spring migra- 

 tion. From the time the Avild currant and gooseberry biishes (Bihcs) begin to 

 flower (and they grow in great abundance among the open pine woods along 

 all tlu! streams in Klamath Valley) they swarm everywhere, and if they had 

 only stayed quiet long enough to count them, I am sure as many as a thousand 

 to the acre could have been found here; they remain very abundant as long 

 as these flowers last. I never saw anything like the numbers anywhere else. 

 Their constant buzzing while flying from l)ush to bush, about each of which as 

 many as a dozer were perhaps already hovering, and the glitter of their brilliant 

 ])lnmage as they flashed by, chasing each other, was a sight long to be remem- 

 bered. Few of this species appeared to remain to breed; at any rate, I failed 

 in finding a single one of their nests here, although I searched carefully for 

 them. At Camp Harne}', Oregon, along the southern slopes of the Blue Moun- 

 tains, I found this species a rather rare summer resident along the outskirts of 

 the pine forests. 



The Rufous Hummer generally reenters our southern border early in 

 March, passing leisurely northward, and commences its winter migration again 

 from the more northern parts of its range about the 1st of September. I do not 

 believe that any remain within our borders throughout the year. 



In Oregon nidification begins occasionally by the second week in April, 

 and a nest containing slightly incubated eggs was foiuid by Dr. Clinton T. 

 Cooke, near Salem, Oregon, on April 18, 1888, while in middle California it 



