THE BROAD-TAILED HUMMINGBIRD. 



{Selasphorus platycercus, ) 



When morning dawns * * * * 



The flower-fed hummingbird his round pursues; 



Sips with inserted tube the honied blooms, 



And chirps his gratitude as round he roams ; 



While richest roses, though in crimson drest, 



Shrink from the splendor of his gorgeous breast. 



What heavenly tints in mingling radiance fi}' ! 



Each rapid movement gives a different dye ; 



Like scales of burnished gold they dazzling show — 



Now sink to shade, now like a furnace glow ! 



— Alexander Wilson. 



If we desire to study the Broad-tailed 

 Hummingbird in the regions that it fre- 

 quents, we must journey to the moun- 

 tainous district of Western North Amer- 

 ica. Here it may be found in large num- 

 bers, for it is the most common of all the 

 species that frequent the mountains. It 

 seeks its food of insects and honey from 

 the flowers of a prolific flora extending 

 from Wyoming and Idaho southward 

 through Colorado, New Mexico, Ari- 

 zona, Texas and over the table lands of 

 Mexico into Guatemala. It is pretty gen- 

 erally distributed throughout the various 

 mountain systems between the eastern 

 slopes of the Rocky Mountains and the 

 Sierra Nevadas." 



Dr. Merriam found the Broad-tails 

 very abundant in the balsam and pine 

 belts of the San Francisco Mountains of 

 Arizona, where their principal food 

 plants were the scarlet trumpet flower 

 and the large blue larkspur. Of their 

 habits he says, "They wake up very early 

 in the morning and go to water at day- 

 light, no matter how cold the weather is. 

 During the month of August, and particu- 

 larly the first half of the month, when 

 the mornings were often frosty, hun- 

 dreds of them came to the spring to drink 

 and bathe at break of day. They were 

 like a swarm of bees, buzzing about one's 

 head and darting to and fro in every di- 

 rection. The air was full of them. They 

 would drop down to the water, dip their 

 feet and bellies, and rise and shoot away 

 as if propelled by an unseen power. They 



would often dart at the face of an intru- 

 der as if bent on piercing the eye with 

 their needlelike bill, and then poise for a 

 moment almost within reach before turn- 

 ing, when they were again lost in the 

 busy throng. Whether this act was 

 prompted by curiosity or resentment I 

 was unable to ascertain." 



It seems strange and unnatural that 

 so delicate a bird and one so highly col- 

 ored should frequent localities where pe- 

 riods of low temperature are common. 

 Yet the Broad-tailed Hummingbird pre- 

 fers high elevations and has been known 

 to nest at an altitude of eleven thousand 

 feet, and it seldom breeds at places lower 

 than five thousand feet. 



The males leave for their winter homes 

 very early in the season. Usually this 

 migration takes place very soon after 

 the young birds leave their nests. Mr. 

 Henshaw attributes this movement of the 

 males to the fact that their favorite food 

 plant, the Scrophularia, begins to lose its 

 blossoms at this time. He says : "It 

 seems evident that the moment its 

 progeny is on the wing and its home ties 

 severed, warned of the approach of fall 

 alike by the frosty nights and the decreas- 

 ing supply of food, off go the males to 

 their inviting winter haunts, to be fol- 

 lowed not long after by the females and 

 young. The latter, probably because they 

 have less strength, linger last, and may 

 be seen even after every adult bird has 

 departed." 



Though the flight of all hummingbirds 



