2 IR 
GREEN, GREENISH GRAY, AND OLIVE 427 
Nest : In ferns, bushes, and vines, overhanging embankments, and some- 
times in trees ; made of plant down, covered with mosses and lichens. 
Eggs: 2; white. Size 0.50 X 0.33. 
THE Rufous Hummingbird, also known as Cinnamon, 
Nootka, and Rufous-backed, is the most widely distrib- 
uted of all the family in North America. It is found 
among the summer flowers of Alaska, and is common 
even above the timber line in the southern Sierra Nevada. 
Longitudinally it ranges from the east slope of the Rock- 
ies to the interior valleys of the sierras and in some places 
to the coast. | 
In Central California nesting begins in March, and the 
dainty structure of plant down, lined with cotton down 
and decorated profusely with fine mosses and bits of 
lichen, is placed on the horizontal limb of a tree or low 
bush. Farther north, Mr. Anthony has found it tucked 
away in unique places, — on dry roots of upturned trees ; 
on the end of a tall fern leaf where other leaves, drop- 
ping over it, effectually hid it ; in the long trailing vines 
overhanging embankments; on the sunny side of rail- 
road cuts ; and one little cradle had been built on top 
of a last year’s nest, ‘a mere rim being built to raise the 
sides, and a flooring being added to cover up a large peb- 
ble that could be plainly felt under the cotton lining.” 
Three years ago this species was not definitely re- 
corded as nesting within the borders of California, but 
Mr. Grinnell now gives it as breeding in the Boreal zone 
of the central and northern Sierra Nevada mountains. I 
have found it in June at Lake Tahoe when there could 
be no mistake in identification, as both male and female 
