46 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 



Measurtmenta of AmazUla yruysoni and A, linnamomea. 



lache lawrencei Ridgway. Lawrence's Humming Bird. 



Circe latirosiris Grayson. Proo. Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., XIV, j>. 282, 1871. 

 lache lawrencei ( Berlepsch, Ms.) Ridgway, Man. N. Am. Birds, p. 320, 1887. 



Like the i>receding species this is a common and generally distrib- 

 uted bird, and was found on nil the islands. Like Grayson's hum- 

 ming birds, they were common about the flower garden at the custom 

 house on Maria Madre. Colonel (xraysou found its nest on ^Faria 

 Madre and describes it as follows: "The elegant little structure I 

 found attached to a slender twig, aud shaded with its leaves, about 

 5 feet from the ground. Tlie situation was fronting the sea, but a few 

 paces from the water's edge, where the first beams of the morning sun 

 dissolved the dews. Its form is cup shaped, and composed of the down 

 of the silk cotton tree [Erlodendron) intermingled with the down of 

 other plants and spider webs, the wliole exterior neatly studded with 

 diminutive lichens; it contained two newly hatched young, but little 

 larger thau tlies." 



In general appearance Jrtc/^c /a^r/v^HCCT closely resembles J. latirostris.^ 

 Tlie dorsal surfaces of the males are nearly the same color, but the 

 upper tail coverts of lawrencei are grayish instead of green, as in lati- 

 rostris; their lower surface is a darker, duller green; the bhie-throat 

 patch is nearly obsolete aud replaced by an extension of the green of 

 the neck; the under-tail coverts are darker brown. 



The females of lawrencei diiler mainly from those of hiHrosiria in the 

 clearei', brighter green of the dorsal surface and darker under-tail 

 coverts. As tlie differences between the two birds seem to be fairly 

 constant, although not very striking, it is perhaps advisable to treat 

 theni as species until more material proves the contrary. 



The type of /. latirostris formed part of the Bullock collection aud 

 probably came from the southern end of the table-land near the Valley 

 of Mexico. The following measurements show the differences in size: 



' lache latirostris undoubtedly occurs on the islands as a straggler. About midway 

 on our return to tlie coast a hummer passed close to the side of the boat, coming 

 IVoin the direction of San Bias and heading in a direct line for the islands. As this 

 wanderer passed 1 had a close view aud identified it as /. lalirosiris. 



