THE HUMMING BIRDS. 269 



pichincha) of clinging to the vertical or overhanging surface of bare 

 rocks, thus described by Mr. L. Eraser:* 



I observed three specimens of this bird, all of a row, hanging to the bare rock (this 

 now explains the use of those large feet aud claws which the species of this group 

 have, aud which has hitherfco puzzled me) like Sand-martins ; it was under a ledge, 

 well protected from the weather, consequently well adapted by nature for nest-build- 

 ing. (They would fly away and then return ; this was done in my sight three or 

 four times in succession.) On examining the spot, which was almost inaccessible, I 

 found much excrement, proving to my mind that they breed in societies. My country- 

 man, Colonel Stacey, on a visit to this mountain, happened to have on a new bright 

 yellow oil-skin cover to his wide-awake hat, aud one of these birds flew round aud 

 round it for a considerable time, as he supposes, mistaking it for a flower. 



ABUNDANCE OF INDIVIDUALS. 



Iii regions where several species occur, Humming Birds are ofteu as 

 numerous as bees about the flowers; but in the eastern portion of North 

 America, where, even in Florida, only one kind is found, they are 

 seldom seen in any considerable numbers, though during the period 

 of flowering of some bush or tree the blossoms of which they are spe- 

 cially fond of (as for example the Black Locust, Kobinia pseudacacia), 

 one may, under the most favorable circumstances, see scores of them 

 in different parts of the same tree. In the more southern portion of the 

 western United States, however, where several species often occur to- 

 gether, they are far more numerous, on occasions fairly swarming in 

 their favorite localities. Keferring to Humming Birds observed at one 

 of his camps in the mountains of New Mexico, near the headwaters of 

 the Pecos Kiver, Mr. Henshaw writes as follows : t 



The number of representatives of this [the Rufous Hummer, Selasphorus rufiis'] and 

 the preceding species [the Broad-tailed Hummer, S. plalycercus~\ that make their sum- 

 mer homes in these mountains is simply beyond calculation. No one whose experi- 

 ence is limited to the eastern United States can form any adequate idea of their abun- 

 dance. They occur from an altitude of about 7,500 feet far up on the mountain sides, 

 as high up, in fact, as suitable flowers afford them the means of subsistence. 

 They are most numerous at an altitude of from 8,000 to i),000 feet. During the entire 

 summer they frequent almost exclusively a species of Sorophularia which grows in 

 clumps in the sunnier spots of the valleys. From early dawn till dusk the Humming 

 Birds throng around these plants intent in surfeiting themselves on honey and the 

 minute insects that the honey attracts. The scene presented in one of these flowering 

 areas is a most attractive one. * * * 



Some idea of the number of Humming Birds in this locality and in this respect 

 this whole mountain area is alike may be gained from the statement that in a single 

 clump of the Sorophularia I have counted eighteen Hummers, all within reach of an 

 ordinary fishing rod. There was scarcely a moment in the day when upwards of fifty 

 could not be counted within the area of a few yards in any of the patches of this 

 common plant. 



At Apache. Arizona, in the month of August, Mr. Henshaw found the 

 same species, "literally by hundreds, hovering over the beds of brightly- 

 tinted flowers, which in the mountains especially grow in the greatest 



* In Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, I860, p. 80. 

 t The Auk, vol. in, 1886, pp. 76-78. 



