ALLEN'S HUM/vviNGBIRD. 



Selasphorus alleni Henshaw. 



This Species so closely resembles the Rufous Hummingbird in gener9,I appearance 

 that only the observer, well acquainted with both birds, can distinguish them. Its range 

 is far more restricted than that of its congener, being essentially confined to the coast 

 distiicts of California, but occurs as far rtorth as British Columbia. It arrives at San 

 Diego, Cal., at the same time when the Rufous Hummingbird makes its appearance. In 

 Nicasio County, Cal., it seems to be most abundant, it having been discovered thereby 

 Mr. C. A. Allen, of Nicasio. The latter observer reports that the "Greenbacks," as he 

 calls them, "are much the livelier and more active of the two, keeping constantly in 

 the open and always perching on the most prominent dead twigs they can find. 

 Their extreme shyness, as contrasted with the unsuspicious nature of the Rufous-backs, 

 is quite remarkable. They seem to possess a larger share than usual of the courage 

 and pugnacity which is constantly displayed in birds of this family." He has often seen 

 the little fellows in hot chase after the Sparrow Hawks, who only seemed to care to 

 get out of the way as soon as possible of foes so determined. 



Mr. W. Otto Emerson, of Haywards, Cal., speaks of a pair building their nest in 



a climbing rose under his porch. It was made of the cotton of willows and the flower 



stamens of the Australian gum trees. A nest found on May 2, 1883, by Mr. A. M. 



IngersoU at Santa Cruz, Cal., and now in the B. F. Goss Collection, was built in a 



blackberry bush, two and a half feet from the ground. Externally it is made of pieces of 



lichens, moss, fliower-stamens and bits of leaves, and the cavity is lined w^ith fine 



plant down. 



NAMES: Allen's Huumingbird, Green-backed Hummingbird, Green-back. 



SCIENTIFIC NAMES: SELASPHORUS ALLENI Henshaw (1877). 



DESCRIPTION: "Adult male with top of head, hind neck, back, scapulars and wing-coverts, metallic-green; 

 rump, upper tail-coverts, tail, lores, orbital region, ear-coverts, sides, and flanks, cinnamon-rufous; 

 gorget, intensely brilliant metallic-scarlet (exactly as in S. rafts); chest, white; tail-feathers, next to 

 niiddle pair, tapering gradually etc. 



"Length, 3.40 inches; wing, 1.50; tail, 1.15 inches." (R. Ridgway.) 



Floresi's Hummingbird, Selasphorus Horesii Gould, a native of Mexico, has been 

 detected in one specimen by Mr. Bryant at San Francisco. 



CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD. 



Stellala calliope Gould. 



"This is the smallest of our North American Hummingbirds," says Prof. R. 

 Ridgway, "but, notwithstanding its diminutive size, has a very extensive distribution, 

 ranging farther north than any other of the western species except Selasphorus rufus, 

 and extending from the Pacific coast nearly, if not quite, to the main chain of the Rocky 

 Mountains. Like the Rufous Hummingbird, however, it does not inhabit every portion 

 of the extensive region indicated, but only such parts as are suited to it by topo- 

 graphical or climatic conditions. In California, according to Mr. Stephens, it breeds as 

 far south as the San Bernardino Mountains, where it inhabits the pine region, but in 



