240 HUMMINGBIRDS 



Adult female : upper parts bronzy and rufous, rufous on rump and tail 

 coverts ; under parts whitish, throat sometimes with a few 

 central brilliant feathers ; sides shaded with rufous ; tail feath- 

 ers rufous at base, the middle ones green nearly to base ; outer 

 ones with broacl. blackish subterminal band and white tips ; 

 outside feather more than .10 wide. Young males: similar to 

 adult female, but feathers of upper parts edged with rusty, 

 rump rufous, and throat showing specks of metallic red. Young 

 females : similar to young males, but rump green and throat 

 specked only with green. Male: length 3.25-3.70, wing 1.50-1.60, tail 

 1.30-1.35, bill .60. Female : length 3.50-3.90, 

 wing 1.75-1.80, tail 1.25-1.30, bill .65-.70. 



Remarks. The male may be told by its 

 reddish back and the nick in the second tail 

 feather. See remarks under S. platycercus. 



Distribution. Breeds in Transition and 

 Canadian zones of western North America 

 from the higher mountains of southern Cali- 

 fornia and Arizona north to latitude 61 in 

 Alaska ; during migrations east to Montana, 

 Wyoming. Colorado. New Mexico, and west- 

 ern Texas ; winters in southern Mexico. 



Nest. Lined with down, and decorated 

 with mosses, lichens, and bark ; often placed 

 in ferns, bushes, trees, and vines overhanging 

 Fig. 316. Rufous Hummingbird, embankments. Eggs: usually 2, white. 



Food. Insects such as those found on wild 



currant and gooseberry bushes, cherry-tree blossoms, fire-weed, Castilleia, 

 Gilia, Pentstemon, and Agave flowers. 



During the spring migration rufus, the big brown hummer, is 

 common in southern California, especially about the blooming orange 

 groves and the wild gooseberry bushes scattered through the cha- 

 parral. 



On the birds' breeding ground the flowers they feed on, as far as 

 I have observed, are mainly red, as the hummer's coloration might 

 suggest. On San Francisco Mountain, Arizona, they were es- 

 pecially fond of the scarlet pentstemons. On Mount Shasta they fed 

 from the painted-cups, tiger lilies, and columbines. Any spot of 

 red would attract them as it does other hummers, and they investi- 

 gated it fearlessly even when it adorned the person of a collector. 



One of the birds actually crossed a wide meadow of green brakes 

 straight to a single columbine standing most inconspicuously near 

 the woods. But the painted-cups were their especial delight on 

 Shasta, and a meadow full of the flowers was fairly alive with them. 

 When attending strictly to his meal a hummer would circle sys- 

 tematically around the cup, probing its tubes as he went, but for 

 the most part the squeaking, pugnacious little scraps would be 

 whizzing in and out, gleams of green, gold, or scarlet glancing 

 from their gorgets as they streaked after one another, climbing the 



