210 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTII AMERICAN BIRDS. 



which had been mounted as a hat bird; he was assured that it had been killed 

 near that city, which entitles it to a place in our fauna. 1 



Nothing appears to be known as yet regarding the life history of this hand- 

 some species. 



74. Selasphorus platycercus (Swainson). 



BROAD-TAILED HUMMINGBIRD. 



Trochilus platycercus Swainson, Philosophical Magazine, I, 1827, 441. 

 Selasphorus platycercus Bonaparte, Oouspectus Avium, I, 1850, p. 82. 

 (B 104, C 278, R 339, C 413, U 432.) 



Geographical range: Mountain regions of western North America ; north in the 

 United States to Wyoming and Idaho; east to the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains 

 and adjacent ranges in Colorado and New Mexico; west to the Sierra Nevada and western 

 Arizona, as well as in the intervening regions; south through Arizona, southern New Mex- 

 ico, and western Texas, over the Mexican table lauds to Guatemala, Central America. 



The Broad-tailed or Rocky Mountain Hummingbird is pretty generally 

 distributed throughout the various mountain systems between the eastern slopes 

 of the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevadas. It can only be considered 

 as a summer resident in the United States, retiring over the table-lands of 

 Mexico southward to Guatemala in winter. It usually makes its appearance 

 along our southern border in Arizona and New Mexico early in March, and 

 returns south in the latter part of September or the beginning of October. 

 As far as yet known, it reaches the northern limits of its range in southern 

 Wyoming and Idaho, and is an exceedingly abundant species throughout the 

 mountains of Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. The Sierra 

 Nevadas seem to form the western boundary of its range, and it apparently does 

 not occur west of these mountains in California. In June, 1876, while en route 

 from Camp McDermit, Nevada, to Camp Harney, Oregon, I observed several 

 Hummingbirds among the willows beside a little brook along the southern slopes 

 of Steen's Mountain, in southern Oregon, which I am almost certain belonged to 

 this species, but not being prepared for collecting, I was unable to secure speci- 

 mens. Dr. C. Hart Merriam records a specimen taken at Big Butte, Idaho, which 

 is located in about the same latitude, on July 19, 1890, and I have no doubt 

 that its range will yet be extended into southeastern Oregon. I also met with 

 this species as a rare summer resident in the foothills of the Santa Catalina 

 Mountains, in southern Arizona, and obtained a single nest containing two 

 nearly fresh eggs, placed on a small cottonwood twig in a canyon, about 3 feet 

 from the ground, at an altitude of about 4,800 feet, on June 11, 1872. It did 

 not appear to breed in the valley of Rillito Creek. 



In eastern Colorado it appears to be the only representative of this family, 

 and is exceedingly abundant. Mr. W. G~. Smith writes me from Larimer County, 

 in this State: "The Broad-tailed Hummer is common in the mountains from 



1 Forest and Stream, Vol. 26, p. 426. 



