58 PACIFIC COAST AVIFAUNA No. 9 



from their hiding places, and who can estimate the number of moths, mosquitoes, 

 flying ants, and other insects that even a single nighthawk consumes before it 

 ceases its hunting to perch lengthways, through the daylight hours, on some dead 

 willow branch ! 



Vaux Swift. Chaetura vauxi (Townsend.). 



Late in the spring, small, grayish-colored swifts are sometimes seen flying 

 over, evidently in migration, as they are always traveling northward. They row 

 along, alternately beating their wings and then sailing for a few yards, from ten 

 to thirty feet above the earth. I have never observed more than two together; 

 and I scarcely get more than just a fleeting glimpse of them, as they are silent 

 and give no warning of their approach. A single individual that flew over on 

 May 20, 1903, was clearly seen, as were two others observed near Clovis April 

 23, 1908. 



While records made from birds seen in flight are liable to be questioned, and 

 are to be discouraged in most instances, yet in this case the writer feels quite 

 satisfied as to the identity of these birds. They were certainly none of our swal- 

 lows, and bore no resemblance to the White-throated Swift, observed in June 

 about the rocky cliffs above Tollhouse. 



Black-chinni;d Hummingbird. Archilochus alexandri (Bourcier and Mul- 

 sant). 



While the presence of this species in the Fresno district is unquestionable, its 

 status is yet in doubt. Nests, supposed by the writer to belong to this species, 

 have been found in June and July. Exact determination awaits actual collection 

 of birds with nests. The females of the various species of hummingbirds are 

 scarcely distinguishable at any distance. 



Anna Hummingbird. Calypte anna (Lesson). 



In the author's opinion this hummer cannot be considered common anywhere 

 in the Fresno district. It is, however, sometimes noticed about gardens in the 

 summer, and becomes fairly numerous about the blossoming eucalyptus trees in 

 the early winter, especially in certain parts of the city. During the month of 

 November their squeaking notes may sometimes be heard as the little fellows fly 

 from tree to tree or perch on the telephone wires. I have observed this species, 

 together with one or two other hummingbirds, around the wild tobacco blossoms 

 in the foothill canyons near Letcher in May ; but their appearance in any num- 

 bers seems to be confined to the blossommg period of the eucalyptus trees. 



Rufous Hummingbird. Selasphorus rufus (Gmelin). 



After seeing many green colored hummingbirds I was surprised and de- 

 lighted one warm spring afternoon to see a large red hummer fly to a lilac bush 

 in the yard of my father's place near Clovis. In his flight he made a sound like 

 that produced by an empty rifle cartridge thrown swiftly through the air. 



It was the 30th of March, 1907, but the day was one of those bright, warm, 

 balmy ones that bring the migrants along in large numbers, and as the sunlight 

 fell full on this tiny bird's plumage it glistened like burnished copper. I thought 

 I had never seen so beautiful a bird, and was regretting that he was resuming 

 his journey after only a few seconds pause, when he again came to a standstill, 

 this time perching on a small umbrella tree not over thirty feet from where I was 



