224 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



coast, and up to an altitude of about 6,000 feet. I believe that this species is 

 nesting in every month of the year. Nests are usually placed about 15 feet from 

 the ground, in either orange or lemon trees. A nest before me is constructed of 

 some soft fiber much resembling hemp tow. There are a few lichens covering 

 the outside, and an inner lining of a little native cotton. The nest, somewhat 

 elli})tical in form, measures 1 J inches deep by 2 inches long and 1 J wide; inside, 

 IJ by seven-eighths by one-half inch deep. The two eggs, white in color and 

 elliptical ovate in form, measure 0.53 by 0.37 inch."^ 



The general habits of Rieffer's Hummingbird are very similar to those of 

 our better-known sjDecies. The nests diflPer somewhat in make-up; of the two 

 specimens before me, both taken by Mr. Charles W. Richmond, on December 

 24, 1892, and January 16, 1893, the first was saddled on the end of a small, 

 di-ooping twig of an alligator pear tree, 4^ feet ujd, the nest being partly sup- 

 ported by the ends of a bunch of leaves. The base of this nest is constructed 

 of bits of dry grass, and the walls of shreds of fine vegetable fiber. The 

 outer walls of this specimen are well covered with green moss and with a few 

 bits of lichens, the whole being securely fastened with spider webs. The inside 

 is lined with soft, brownish down. The structure is a neat piece of bird archi- 

 tecture, and contained two broken eggs when found. It measures 1 J inches in 

 outer diameter, and the same in height. The inner cup measures seven-eighths 

 of an inch in width by three-fourths of an inch in depth. The base of the 

 second specimen is composed of shreds of rotten wood fibers; the walls are 

 built up of apparently similar but finer material, and they are very sparingly 

 covered with shreds of green moss, but more profusely with small pellets of 

 white plant doAvn, held in place by spider webs, while the interior is lined with 

 fine vegetable down. This nest resembles specimens of the Black-chinned 

 Hummingbird somewhat, but is considerably larger. The outside measurements 

 are the same as those of the preceding, but the inner cup is somewhat more 

 roomy; the outer walls are thinner and the cavity is shallower; it was fastened 

 to a fork of a drooping bamboo twig hanging about 4 feet above the water of a 

 cree^-i. It contained two nearly fresh eggs on January 16, 1893; these ai-e now 

 in the United States National Museum collection. They resemble the eggs of 

 our better-known Humixiingbirds, both in shape and color; and measure 13.46 

 by 9.14 and 13.72 by 8.64 millimetres, or 0.53 by 0.36 and 0.54 by 0.34 inch. 



The type specimen, No. 25813 (not figui-ed), from a set of two eggs, was 

 taken by Mr. Charles W. Richmond on January 16, 1893, from the last described 

 nest, on the Escondido River, near Bluefields, Nicaragua, and it would appear 

 as if this species actually nested in nearly every month of tlie year. 



' The Auk, Vol. IX, 1892, p. 325. 



