292 NESTS AND E0G8 OF 



In small forks. A very fine one measures, outwardly, one and three-fourth Inches 



■faroad by one and a half deep. Nests saddled on thick limbs are usually larger. In 



Ohio the Ruby-throat prefers nesting in the branches of the buckeye to all other 



trees. The birds are especially abundant about this tree when it is in full blossom 



■early in May. The nesting time is from about the middle of May to the latter part 



of June. The average size of thirty eggs is .51x.34. The Ancients knew nothing of 



Hummingbirds because they belong exclusively to the Americas, and we can read 



nothing concerning these 'gems of bird life in the mythologies and legends of the 



Greeks and the Romans. There are about four hundred species of Hummingbirds 



■known to the New World. 



I 



429. BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIBD. Trochilus alexandri Bourc. & 

 Muls. Geog. Dist. — Western United States, from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, 

 south into Mexico. 



This Hummingbird nests in more open ground than the Rufous or Anna's, plac- 

 ang the structure usually on the small branches of oaks and sycamores. Sometimes 

 it rests lightly in the forks of a slender twig. It is composed of the web or down 

 iound on the under side of the leaves of the sycamore; the effect is that the nest 

 looks like a small, round, yellow sponge. Eggs same as those of the Ruby-throat, 

 "with an average size of .50x.30. Mr. W. E. D. Scott states that this species is an 

 abundant summer resident in the Catalina mountains in Southern Arizona, and by 

 the last of May the birds are mated and begin breeding. He found fresh eggs as 

 late as July and early In August. Mr. Stephens notss this Hummingbird as not un- 

 common in the San Bernardino Valley. A nest taken May 22 was built in a willow, 

 ■eight feet from the gro^nd, and contained two eggs in which incubation had com- 

 menced. 



429. 1. VIOLET-THROATED HXJMMINGBIED. Trochilus violajugulum Jeff- 

 ries. Geog. Dist. — Coast of Gailifornia (Santa Barbara). 



Known only from one specimen first described by the late J. Amory Jeffries. 

 The specimen was a male taken April 5, 1883, near Santa Barbara, California.* 

 J^Iothing is known regarding its habits or the extent of its range. 



430. COSTA'S HUMMINGBIRD. Calypte costce (Bourc.) Geog. Dist.— 

 Xiower California, Western Mexico, Arizona and Southern California. 



Costa's Hummingbird is more or less abundant in various regions of Arizona 

 and Southern California. It is not generally so abundant as the Black-chinned 

 Hummingbird, in whose company it is often found breeding. Small streams in the 

 mountain canons, fringed with alder, laurel, sycamore .and other shrubbery, are 

 their favorite resorts. Mr. Scott did not find this species very common at Riverside, 

 Pinal county, Arizona, in 1882. On May 5 a nest was found built in a cottonwood 

 tree thirty-five feet from the ground, almost at the extremity of the branches. 

 Jtour sets of the eggs, with the nests, of Costa's Hummer, collected in the neighbor- 

 liood of Banning, California, May 12 and 13, 1884, are before me. The nests were 

 toullt in shrubs, varying from six to twelve feet in height. Two of the nests rest in 

 slender forks, while the other two are built on small twigs. The materials in these 

 do not differ essentially from those in ten nests of Anna's Hummingbird, consisting 

 ■of scift, downy, yellowish or grayish vegetable substances, with here and there bits 

 ■of flower stems, the whole covered on the outside with spider webs. Each of these 

 nests contained two eggs, and they exhibit the following sizes: .49x.31, .49x.29; 

 ,45x.30, .47X.31; .48x.30, 49x.30; .45x.32, .46x.30. 



• The Auk, Vol. V„ pp. 168-169. 



