THE BLUE-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD. 191 



United States, and breeds wherever found. As far as known it arrives within 

 our borders early in May, and returns south again about the beginning of 

 October. This large and rather dull-colored Hummer was first added to our 

 fauna by Mr. F. Stephens, who secured an adult male in the Santa Catalina 

 Mountains on May 14, 1884. Since then it has been taken by Mr. E. W. Nelson 

 in the Santa Rita Mountains; by Dr. A. K. Fisher, Messrs. W. W. Price, F. H. 

 Fowler, and others, in both the Chiricahua and Huachuca mountains, in south- 

 eastern Arizona, and by Dr. Edgar A. Mearns, United States Army, in the San 

 Luis Mountains, in southwestern New Mexico. Like the preceding, it is a 

 mountain-loving species, frequenting similar regions; and, judging from the 

 number of specimens that have been taken within our borders, it appears to be 

 more common than the Rivoli Hummer. 



Dr. A. K. Fisher has kindly furnished me with the following notes : 



"The Blue-throated Hummingbird was common in the higher Chiricahua 

 Mountains, where it was observed at Fly Park during the early part of June, 

 1894. Like the Rivoli Hummer, it was very partial to the flowers of the shrubby 

 honeysuckle (Lonicera involucratti), among which six were secured June 8 and 

 three on June 10. It is probable the flowers attract large numbers of insects, 

 which in their turn attract the birds, for the gullets of the Hummers secured 

 were filled with them. On several occasions the male was heard to utter a simple 

 little song, consisting of three or four syllables, which were repeated at short 

 intervals. While delivering- this song the bird sat upright, with head more or . 

 less thrown back. No signs of mating were observed, and the genitalia of the 

 specimens secured were undeveloped. From June 10 to June 15 the species 

 became gradually rarer, and it is probable they had dispersed among the wilder 

 parts of the mountains, preparatory to nesting." 



I am also indebted to Mr. E.AV. Nelson for the little we know relating to the 

 nesting habits of the Blue-throated Hummingbird. He writes me as follows: 



" Ca'ligena dementia is a sparingly distributed summer resident of all the 

 mountain regions of south central Mexico, between 7,500 and 12,000 feet. They 

 are rather quiet birds, often found perched on the tips of large maguey leaves 

 In the forests of pines of the higher slopes they are not often seen except as 

 they dash by among the trees. On the 9th of September, 1893, a nest contain- 

 ing two eggs was found at an altitude of 11,500 feet on the north slope of the 

 volcano of Toluca, in the State of Mexico. At this time the nights had already 

 become quite frosty here. The nest was built in the fork of a small shrub, 

 growing out of the face of a cliff about 30 feet above its base, on the side of 

 a canyon, in the pine and fir forest. The nest was discovered by seeing the 

 parent approach its vicinity. She flew quietly close up to the nest, and then, 

 turning so that she faced out from the cliff and away from the nest, she moved 

 backward several inches and settled lightly on the eggs. She was easily 

 alarmed, darting away through the forest, and was not seen again. The nest 

 was nearly inaccessible, and one egg was thrown out and broken in securing- it." 



This nest, No. 26332, United States National Museum collection, now before 

 me, is a handsome and rather bulky structure, which is apparently composed 



