256 Birds of Colorado 
August 21st, 1898. Carter took one at Breckenridge, and W. G. Smith 
informed Bendire it was rare in Larimer, but more common in Arapahoe 
county ; Cook and Henderson state that Gale obtained one at Boulder, 
but the species is not mentioned in his notes; Rockwell reports that 
it is an occasional spring migrant at Grand Junction, according to Miss 
Eggleston. 
Habits.—Henshaw writes that the males of this species 
are very pugnacious, and wage unceasing warfare amongst 
themselves as well as with other species, especially the 
Broad-tailed. In other respects there does not seem 
anything very remarkable about the species. The 
nesting habits in Colorado have not been described, 
but elsewhere it appears to locate its nest somewhat 
higher than the Broad-tailed, though it is constructed 
in a very similar manner. The eggs are two in number, 
white in colour, and measure *50 x ‘33. 
Genus STELLULA. 
Outer primaries simple, hardly attenuated ; tail of the male double- 
rounded, feathers rather spoon-shaped and rounded at tip, not attenu- 
ated or pointed; male with a gorget of metallic spots set on white. 
One species only in the United States. 
Calliope Humming-bird. Stellula calliope. 
A.O.U. Checklist no 436—Colorado Record—Cooke 97, pp. 163, 208. 
Description.— Male—Above metallic green; wings and tail dusky, 
the feathers of the latter with a little concealed rufous about the bases, 
and with slightly paler tips; gorget with the feathers white basally, 
metallic purplish terminally, forming a series of metallic rays on a 
white ground; rest of lower-surface whitish with a little green on the 
sides. Length 2-9; wing 1-55; tail -8; culmen -55. 
The female has no gorget, the throat is white with a few dusky 
specks, and the under-parts are washed with rufous; the two middle 
pairs of tail-feathers are green tipped with dusky ; the others dusky, 
tipped with white, with rufous at the extreme base—wing 1-75. 
Distribution.—Mountains of western North America, breeding from 
British Columbia south to southern California and New Mexico; 
south in winter into Mexico. 
The Calliope is u rare species in Colorado, and has been only twice 
recorded. Aiken found an adult male dead in Cheyenne Cafion, near 
