296 NESTS AND EGGS OF 



of this handsome Hummer secured by Mr. Armstrong, the well-known ornithological 

 and oologlcal collector, who secured them at Brownsville, Cameron county, Texas, 

 August 3, 1892. The nest is composed principally of thistle-down, also weed stems, 

 and silky fibers of vegetable matter. It Is ornamented on the outside with a few 

 lichens held on with spider webs. The outside measurements are 1.04 in depth by 

 1.53 in diameter; inside diameter .97 by .73 in depth. The eggs measure .55x.36,, 

 .51x33. 



440. XANTUS'S HUMMINGBIKD. Basilinna xantusi (Lawr.) Geog. Dist. — 

 Lower California. 



This Hummingbird occurs in the southern portion of Lower California. It was- 

 first taken at Cape St. Lucas by Mr. Xantus, and described by. Mr. George N. Law- 

 rence in 1860. I have no information regarding Its specific habits; they perhaps 

 do not differ essentially from those which characterize other Hummingbirds. Prof, 

 Ridgway describes the nest as composed of various soft vegetable fibres (especially- 

 raw cotton, spiders' webs, etc.), and attached to small twigs. Size about 1.50 in. 

 diameter by about .80 in height, the cavity about 1.00x.55-.60. Eggs .47x.31. 



440. 1. WHITE-EABED HUMMINGBIRD. Basilinna leiicotis (Vieill.) Geog. 

 Dlst. — Mexico and Nlcarauga, north to the Chiricahua Mountains. 



A handsome Hummingbird, recently added to the avifauna of North America, 

 by Dr. A. K. Fisher, having obtained a specimen on June 9, 1894, in the Chiricahua, 

 Mountains of Southeastern Arizona. Early in June a camp was made at Fly Park, 

 a well-wooded area southeast of the head of Pinery Canyon, at an altitude of about 

 10,000 feet. Here a boreal honeysuckle grows commonly through the woods of 

 spruce, fir, pine and aspen. The flowers of the honeysuckle attract great numbers of 

 Hummers. It was here that the first specimen was taken on the above date.* Ac- 

 cording to Salvln and Godman this is one of the commonest and most characteristic 

 of the Hummingbirds of the highlands of Mexico and Guatemala. So far as I am 

 aware there is no authentic published account of the nests and eggs of this beautiful 

 species. 



441. BROAD-BILLED HtTMMINGBIRD. lacJie laterostris (Swains.) Geog. 

 Dist.^Southern Arizona, and the South to the Valley of Mexico. 



Quoting the late Major Bendlre, he says: "The Broad-billed or Circe Humming- 

 bird appears to be a moderately common summer resident in suitable localities in 

 Southern Arizona and Southwestern New Mexico, at altitudes from 3500 to 5000 

 feet. It was first added to our fauna by Mr. H. W. Henshaw, who took two adult 

 males in the Santa Rita Mountains, a few miles from old Camp Crittenden, Arizona, 

 on August 23, 1874. Since th.en It has also been taken by P. Stephens in the same 

 locality, where he secured five specimens, which are now in Mr. William Brewster's 

 collection." He says that the birds were always found near water, and usually 

 along the streams which flowed through canyons, high among mountains. Mr. W. 

 E. D. Scott took an adult female that contained an egg with shell nearly formed. 

 This was In the Catallna Mountains, June 26, 1884. So there can be no doubt that 

 the bird breeds In that region. A nest from Mexico is described as being composed 

 of plant fibres, and vegetable down; decorated on the outside with narrow strips of 

 fine plant stems, bits of lichens, etc. The nest was saddled on a fork of a drooping: 

 twig. There appears to be no published account of the eggs of this Hummer, but 

 undoubtedly are identical with those of the other well-known smaller species of this 

 group. 



• See The Auk, Vol. XI, 1S94, pp. 325-326. 



