THE OOLOGIST 



93 



easily distnguished by the white wing 

 bars. I suppose the Montana Junco 

 is found among them but it is too 

 similar to the Pink-sided Junco to be 

 readily recognized. Sometimes, too, 

 the Slate-colored Junco is found here 

 but it is not at all common. 



It is peculiar that the Gray-headed 

 Junco, which is the only permanent 

 resident of Colorado among all the 

 Juncos, is not found among these win- 

 ter visitors. They are common in the 

 mountains, some twenty miles to the 

 west, and nest abundantly, but I have 

 never seen any of them on the plains 

 about here, though I have looked for 

 them. 



The Juncos are admirable little 

 birds, neat and trim in appearance, 

 and have a peculiar call note, easily 

 recognized when once it is known. 

 Their instinct of play is well develop- 

 ed, and they chase each other about 

 in the sheer joy of life and fun. 



Geo. E, Osterhout. 



They Never Lose Interest. 



Olthough my egg collecting days 

 are over for lack of time, my inter- 

 est in everything pertaining to bird 

 life will never leave me and it will al- 

 ways be a pleasure to me to read in 

 the pages of your valuable magazine, 

 of the finds and near finds of other 

 bird students more fortunate than my- 

 self. 



Emil Ulbert. 

 New Haven, Conn, 



Some Western Birds. 

 The Hummingbirds. 



Eighteen species of hummingbirds 

 are credited to the United States by 

 the A. O. U. Check-List. Only one 

 of these is found east of the Missis- 

 sippi River, the balance being dis- 

 tributed over that great stretch of 

 territory called "The Southwest." 

 Southern California can boast of six 



species, all but one of which nest with- 

 in her borders. 



To give these six "winged jewels" 

 the attention that they deserve in one 

 short article would be impossible, a 

 brief description of each must suffice. 

 The females are often so much alike 

 in different species as to be easily 

 confused, and as the males are sel- 

 dom found in the vicinity of the nest 

 identification at times is extremely 

 difficult unless the bird is collected. 



Black-chinned Hummingbird — First 

 to be considered is the Black-chinned 

 Hummingbird (Archilochus alexau- 

 dri). This species closely resembles 

 the Ruby-throat (Archilochus colubris( 

 of the eastern states. The male is 

 about three and one-half inches in 

 length; the chin is velvety black, 

 scaled below with brilliant metallic 

 violet of an iridescent nature that 

 shows blue and green in the sunlight; 

 the upper parts are bronzy green; the 

 under parts grayish white. The fe- 

 male is slightly larger, and lacks the 

 black chin and colored gorget. 



With us the Black-chin is a summer 

 resident, appearing toward the middle 

 of April and remaining until late in 

 July. Its presence is variable, seem- 

 ingly depending upon the amount of 

 rainfall. Thus in dry seasons it is 

 found in much smaller numbers than 

 in the summers when the hill-sides are 

 covered with an abundance of verdure 

 after heavy rainfalls. This rule also 

 holds good for all our hummingbirds. 



This species frequent the canyons 

 of the foot-hill regions, nesting in large 

 numbers along the sycamore-lined 

 water courses. The nests are built 

 usually in May or June, and are placed 

 in bushes or such trees as sycamores, 

 cottonwoods and willows, seldom out 

 of sight of water, and from four to 

 twenty feet from the ground. The 

 nest of this species can usually be dis- 

 tinguished from others by its spongy 



