556 RUFF-NECKED HUMMING BIRD. 
tremulously uttered as it whirls and sweeps through the air, like a 
musket-ball, accompanied also by something like the whirr of the Night 
Hawk. On the 29th of May, I found a nest of this species in a forked 
branch of the Nootka Bramble, Rubus Nutkanus. 'The female was sit- 
ting on two eggs, of the same shape and colour as those of the common 
species. The nest also was perfectly similar, but somewhat deeper. 
As I approached, the female came hovering round the nest, and soon 
after, when all was still, she resumed her place contentedly.” 
Dr Townsenn’s note is as follows:—“ Nootka Sound Humming 
Bird, Trochilus rufus, Ah-puets-Rinne of the Chinooks. On a clear day 
the male may be seen to rise to a great height in the air, and descend 
instantly near the earth, then mount again to the same altitude as at 
first, performing in the evolution the half of a large circle. During the 
descent it emits a strange and astonishingly loud note, which can be 
compared to nothing but the rubbing together of the limbs of trees 
during a high wind. I heard this singular note repeatedly last spring 
and summer, but did not then discover to what it belonged. I did not 
suppose it to be a bird at all, and least of alla Humming Bird. The 
observer thinks it almost impossible that so small a creature can be 
capable of producing so much sound. I have never observed this habit 
upon a dull or cloudy day.” 
Mr Nourratt having presented me with the nest of this species 
attached to the twig to which the bird had fastened it, my amiable 
friend Miss Martin has figured it for me, as well as the plant, about 
which these lovely creatures are represented. The nest, which measures 
two inches and a quarter in height, and an inch and three quarters in 
breadth, at the upper part, is composed externally of mosses, lichens, 
and a few feathers, with slender fibrous roots interwoven, and lined 
with fine cottony seed-down. 
TRocHILUs RUFUS, Gmel. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 497. 
TRocuixvus cotraris, Lath. Ind. Ornith. vol. i. p. 318. 
Trocuitus (SELAsPHORUS) RUFUS, Swainson. 
Cinnamon or Nootka Hummine Brrp, Richards. and Swains. Fauna Bor.-Amer. 
vol. ii. p. 324. 
Adult Male. Plate CCCLXXIX. Figs. 1, 2. 
Bill long, straight, subulate, somewhat depressed at the base, acute ; 
upper mandible with the dorsal line straight, the ridge narrow at the 
