432 LAND BIRDS 
California Breeding Range: In Transition zone along the whole length of 
the Sierra Nevada. 
Breeding Season: May to August. 
Nest: Willow down, covered with bits of bark, fastened securely with 
cobwebs ; built against a dried pine cone. 
Eggs: 2; white. Size 0.46 X 0.31. 
CALIFORNIA is the land of hum- 
mingbirds. Six varieties nest with- 
in her borders, and two 
others are recorded as mi- 
grants ; while only one spe- 
cies, the ruby-throated, is 
found anywhere in the East. 
Of the eight varieties reg- 
istered from California the 
smallest is the Calliope, 
which is a common summer 
visitant in the whole length 
of the Sierra Nevada, breed- 
ing in the higher altitudes 
of the range, rarely below 
four thousand feet. It 
loves the mountain meadows and 
woodlands, where it feeds upon 
the painted cups, columbine, wild 
hyacinths, gooseberries, and wild 
currants. The nests are usually 
saddled among the small cones of a 
pine tree and are woven closely 
to the cones, and so covered with 
436. CALLIOPE HUMMING- 
BIRD. 
“11 feeds upon the pained its of bark and cone as to re 
cups.” 
