collected in southern Arizona, is made entirely of a mixture of plant-down, spiders' webs, 



and covers of leaf and flower buds. It is a beautiful, firmly felted domicile. This species 



is also known as the Mexican Star. 



DESCRIPTION: "Adult male with gorget rich metallic-violet, varying to purplish-blue; upper parts, metallic 

 bronze-green, the three outer tail-feathers, purplish-black; chest, bufty-white, belly and under tail- 

 coverts, purer white; sides and flanks, dull greenish-bronze, tinged with rusty." 



Rieffer's Hummingbird, Amazilia fuscicaudata Ridgw. Like the allied Bufi"-bellied 

 Hummingbird, this species was discovered by Dr. J. C. Merrill at Fort Brown, Texas. 

 The specimen was brought alive to him by a soldier, but subsequently escaped. It is 

 an inhabitant of a large territory, ranging from the lower Rio Grande, south through 

 eastern Mexico to Central America and northern South America. 



Buff-bellied Hummingbird, Amazilia cerviniventris Gould. This is the plainest 

 species of all the Hummingbirds occurring in the United States. It was first obtained 

 within our border by Dr. J. C. Merrill, U. S. Army, at Fort Brown, Texas, in 1876. 

 It was there an abundant summer visitor, being particularly numerous on the military 

 reservation. It seemed to be perfectly at home among the dense tangled thickets, darting 

 rapidly among the bushes and creeping vines. It was rather a noisy bird, its shrill cries 

 usually first attracting attention to its presence. 



A nest in the B. F. Goss Collection in the Public Museum of Milwaukee, obtained 

 on May 12, 1891, near Brownsville, Tex., "in the thick woods," is made of fine hemp- 

 like fibers, plant-wool, and spiders' webs, and the exterior is decorated only with a few 

 lichens. The lining consists of plant down. According to Mr. Geo. K. Cherrie this is 

 the most abundant species about San Jos6, Costa Rica. He believes that it nests there 

 in every month of the year. Nests are usually placed about fifteen feet from the ground 

 either in orange or lemon trees. 



DESCRIPTION: "Above, metallic-green, tinged with bronze, the top of the head much duller; upper tail- 

 coverts, bronze-green; tail, clear chestnut; sides of head, metallic-green; chin, throat, and chest, 

 brilliant metallic Paris-green; breast, metallic bronze-green; belly and flanks, light bufly-cinnamon ; 

 downy femoral tufts, white, etc. 



"Length, 4.00 inches; wing, 2.25; tail, 1.50; bill, 0.80." Female, similar. (After R. Ridgway.) 



Xantus' Hummingbird, Basilinna xantusi Elliot. This species inhabits Lower 

 California north to latitude 29°. Its congener, the White-eared Hummingbird, Basilinna 

 leiicotis BoiE, has been found from Nicaragua and Mexico north to the Chiricahua 

 Mountains, Arizona. 



Broad-billed Hummingbird, lache latirostris Elliot. This species, which is also 

 called Circe Hummingbird and Circe, appears to be rather numerous in southern Arizona, 

 From here it is abundant south to the valley of Mexico. A nest in the B. F. Goss Collec- 

 tion was found May 19, 1890, in the Huachuca Mountains, at an elevation of 7,500 feet. 

 It was placed in a maple tree, seven feet from the ground, and is constructed of buff 

 plant-down and spiders' nests, well felted; the exterior is decorated with a few pieces of 

 leaves. It is a deeply cupped structure. 



DESCRIPTION : "The color of this species is above metallic grass-green, some feathers tinged with bluish- 

 green in certain lights, the fore-head much duller ; tail, glossy blue-black ; chin and throat, rich metallic 

 cobalt-blue, gradually changing posteriorly to metallic bluish grass-green, which color covers uniformly 

 the chest, breast, belly, sides, and flanks ; thigh-tufts, pure white. 



"Length, about 3.50 inches; wing, 2.05; tail, 1.30 inches." (After Ridgway.) 



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