378 BROAD-TAILED HUMMINGBIRD. 



NAMES: Anna's Hummingbird, Anna's Hummer.— Silberkolibri (German). 



SCIENTIFIC NAMES: Ornismya anna Lesson (1831). Trocbilus anna Jard., And. CALYPTB ANN^ 



Gould (1856). 

 DESCRIPTION: One of the largest of our Hummingbirds. "Tail, deeply forked; external feather narrow, 



linear. Top of head, throat, and a moderate ruif, metallic crimson-red, with purple reflections. Rest 



of upper parts and a band across the breast, green. Tail-feathers, purplish-brown, darkest centrally. 



In the female the tail is slightly rounded, not emarginate; the scales of the head and throat are 



wanting. Tail, barred with black, and tipped with white., 



"Length about 3.60 inches; wing, 2.00; tail, 1.45 inches." (B. B. & R., II, p. 454.) 



BROAD-TAILED HUMMINGBIRD. 



Selasphorus platycercus Bonaparte. 



^HE Broad-tailed Hummingbird is the most common, or at least most conspicuous, 

 species of the family in the Rocky Mountain district, although it seems to be 

 more particularly characteristic of the eastern portions, gradually diminishing in num- 

 bers, or at least in the coiitinuity of the areas which it inhabits, to the westward. I 

 am unable to find any authentic record of its occurrence west of the one hundred and 

 sixty-first meridian, where in the East Humboldt Mountains, Nevada, I found it fairly 

 common in August, 1868. 



"In the Rocky Mountain district proper, as in Colorado, for example, it breeds at 

 an elevation of from 4,000 to 11,000 feet, and I found it having about the same vertical 

 range in the East Humboldt Mountains. In the San Francisco Mountains, Arizona, 

 according to Dr. Meams, it is an abundant summer resident of the spruce belt. At Fort 

 Garland, Colorado, Mr. Henshaw found it most numerous along the mountain streams, 

 at an altitude of about 7,000 feet. It breeds abundantly in the mountains of northern 

 New Mexico, but in those of southern Arizona it is said to be comparatively rare during 

 the breeding season. On the Upper Pecos River, New Mexico, Mr. Henshaw found the 

 Broad-tailed Hummingbirds 'exti-emely numerous'; young birds were noticed August 1, 

 and by the 10th they became common. By August 1, the males of this species began 

 to get less numerous, and by the 10th there were none; in fact, I saw very few after 

 that date. This is an extremely interesting fact. Wherever I have been in the West, 

 and for that matter in the East also, I have always been led to wonder at the apparent 

 absence of males early in fall in localities where the females and young were very 

 numerous. The observations I was able to make here solved the problem to my satis- 

 faction. The truth appears to be that immediately upon the young leaving the nest the 

 males abandon their summer limits and at once set out for their winter-quarters, leaving 

 the females and young to follow at their convenience. 



" 'In this locality at least there is an evident reason for this. Just about this date 

 the Scrophttlaria, which is the favorite food plant of the Hummers, begins to lose its 

 blossoms, and in a comparatively short time the flowers give place to the seed pods. 



