BREWSTER: BIRDS OF THE CAPE REGION, LOWER CALIFORNIA. 113° 
Adult females. In some specimens the throat is perfectly plain: in others 
tinged with rusty; in still others sprinkled with small purplish spots, while in 
one bird (No. 17,083, La Paz, February 24, 1887), there is a rather large cen- 
tral patch of dull but iridescent purple. None of my females show any purplish 
on the crown. 
This Hummingbird occurs throughout Lower California. In the Cape 
Region it is a resident species of somewhat local and peculiar distribution 
during the breeding season, although at other times of the year it apparently 
wanders over considerable areas in search of food. Thus Mr. Frazar found 
it abundant near La Paz in February and March and among the Victoria 
Mountains (opposite Carmen Island) during the latter month, but he failed 
to detect even a single specimen on the Sierra de la Laguna in May or 
early June. Mr. Belding characterizes it as “ abundant in winter” about La 
Paz, but ‘‘ not common at San José, Cape Saint Lucas, or Miraflores in April 
and May.” At San José del Rancho Mr. Frazar saw only one or two in early 
July, but soon after the middle of that month a succession of heavy showers 
caused the vegetation to spring suddenly into leaf, and Costa’s Hummers ap- 
peared in large numbers, coming, Mr. Frazar thought, from the region to the 
northward. They were most abundant about July 25, after which their num- 
bers declined steadily. None were seen either here or at Triunfo in December. 
According to Mr. Belding, Costa’s Hummingbird seldom ranges above 2,000 
feet altitude, and “ thrives in barren, waterless tracts.” Mr. Anthony, however, 
found it nesting in May, 1893, among the pines on San Pedro Martir at an alti- 
tude of 7,500 feet.1_ In the more southern portions of Lower California it 
breeds in January, February, and Merch, the earliest date on record being 
January 17, 1881, when Mr. Bryant found a nest containing “large young,” 
on Santa Margarita Island.? 
The general range of Costa’s Hummingbird includes southern California, 
Arizona and western Mexico. 
It is possible that Selasphorus alleni sometimes visits the Cape Region, for 
Mr. Frazar obtained an adult female in the Victoria Mountains opposite Carmen 
Island, on March 11, 1887. 
Basilinna xantusi (Lawre.). 
Xantus’s HUMMINGBIRD. 
Amazilia xantusii LAwreNcE, Ann Lye. Nat. Hist. N. Y., VII. 1860, 109, 110 
(orig. descr. of female; type from Cape St. Lucas). 
Heliopaedica castaneocauda LAWRENCE, Loc. cit., 145 (orig. descr. of male; crit ; 
Cape St. Lucas). 
A.[mazilia] rantusi ScLatTER, Ibis, 1860, 309 (crit. ; Cape St. Lucas). 
1 Zoe, IV. 1898, 237. 
2 Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci., 2d ser., II. 1889, 289. 
VOL. XLI. — NO. 1 8 
