222 LIFE IIISTOEIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



The average measurement of eight eggs in the United States National 

 Museum collection is 11.71 by 7.94 millimetres, or about 0.46 by 0.31 inch. 

 The largest egg measures 12.19 by 8.38 millimetres, or 0.48 by 0.33 inch; 

 the smallest, 10.67 by 7.37 millimetres, or 0.42 by 0.29 inch. 



The type specimen, No. 21737 (not figured), from a set of two eggs, Ben- 

 dire collection, was taken by the writer near Fort Klamath, Oregon, on June 

 11, 1883. 



78. Calothorax lucifer (Swainson). 



LUCIFER HUMMINGBIRD. 



Cynanthus lucifer Swainson, Philosophical Magazine, 1S27, 442. 

 Calothorax lucifer Gray, Genera of Birds, 184S, I, p. 110. 



(B — , C — , R 344, C 418, U 437.) 



Geographical range: Table-lands of Mexico, from Puebla and the Valley of 

 Mexico north to southern Arizona. 



We are indebted to Mr. H. W. Henshaw for the addition of the Lucifer 

 Hummingbird to our fauna. He took a female of this species on August 7, 

 1874, near Camp Bowie, Arizona, where it appeared to be rare, and, as far as I 

 am aware, no other specimens have since then been taken within our borders. 

 The male resembles Costa's Hummingbird somewhat in size and general colora- 

 tion, so that it can scarcely be recognized from it on the wing, and might 

 therefore be readily overlooked by the average collector. It appears to be a 

 common species in the more southern portions of Mexico, among the table- 

 lands of Puebla and on the borders of the Valley of Mexico. 



The late Mr. Bullock, in his "Six Months in Mexico," gives a description 

 of the nest and eggs of this species, and says: "They breed in Mexico in June 

 and July, and the nest is a beautiful specimen of. the architectural talent of 

 these birds; it is neatly constructed of cotton or the down of the thistle, to 

 which is fastened on the outside, by some glutinous substance, a white, flat 

 lichen resembling ours. 



"The female lays two eggs, perfectly white, and large for the size of the 

 bird, and the Indians informed me they were hatched in three weeks by the 

 male and female sitting alternately. * * * In sleeping they frequently 

 suspend themselves by the feet, with then* heads downward, in the manner of 

 some parrots." 1 



The general habits of this species seem to resemble those of our better- 

 known Hummingbirds very closely. There are no nests and eggs of the Lucifer 

 Hummingbird in the collection, and I am therefore unable to give measure- 

 ments; but, judging- from the size of the bird, its eggs should correspond closely 

 with those of Calypte costce 



1 A fuller account of Mr. Bullock's paper on this species can be found in Mr. Robert Ridgway's paper 

 ou the Hummingbirds, in the Report of the National Museum, 1890 (pp. 360-362). 



