392 NESTS AND EOGS OF 



In. small forks. A very fine one measures, outwardly, one and three-fourth inches 

 "broad by one and a half deep. Nests saddled on thick limbs are usually larger. In 

 Ohio the Ruby-throat prefers nesting In the branches of the buckeye to all other 

 trees. The birds are especially abundant about this tree when it is in full blossom 

 •early in May. The nesting time is from about the middle of May to the latter part 

 of June. The average size of thirty eggs is .51x.34. The Ancients knew nothing of 

 Hummingbirds because they belong exclusively to the Americas, and we can read 

 nothing concerning these gems of bird life in the mythologies and legends of the 

 ■Greeks and the Romans. There are about four hundred species of Hummingbirds 

 inown to the New World. 



429. BliACK-CHINNED HTJMMIITGBIBD. Trochilus alexandri Bourc. & 

 Muls. Geog. Dist. — Western United States, from the Rocky Mountains to the Paciflc, 

 south into Mexico. 



This Hummingbird nests in more open ground than the Rufous or Anna's, plac- 

 ing the structure usually on the small branches of oaks and sycamores. Sometimes 

 it rests lightly in the forks of a slender twig. It is composed of the web or down 

 iound on the under side of the leaves of the sycamore; the effect is that the nest 

 looks like a small, round, yellow sponge. Eggs same as those of the Ruby-throat, 

 "With an average size of .50x.30. Mr. W. E. D. Scott states that this species is an 

 abundant summer resident in the Catalina mountains in Southern Arizona, and by 

 the last of May the birds are mated and begin breeding. He found fresh- eggs as 

 late as July and early in August. Mr. Stephens notes this Hummingbird as not un- 

 common in the San Bernardino Valley. A nest taken May 22 was built in a willow, 

 •eight feet from the ground, and contained two eggs in which incubation had com- 

 menced. 



429. 1. VIOLET-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD. TrooUlus violajugulum Jeff- 

 Ties. Geog. Dist. — Coast of California (Santa Barbara). 



Known only from one specimen first described by the late J. Amory Jeffries. 

 The specimen was a male taken April 5, 1883, near Santa Barbara, California.* 

 JJothing is known regarding its habits or the extenj; of its range. 



430. COSTA'S HUMMINGBIRD. Calypte costw (Bourc.) Geog. Dist.— 

 Xiower California, Western Mexico, Arizona and Southern California. 



Costa's Hummingbird is more or less abundant in various regions of Arizona 

 and Southern California. It is not generally so abundant as the Black-chinned 

 Hummingbird, in whose company it is often found breeding. Small streams in the 

 mountain canons, fringed with alder, laurel, sycamore and other shrubbery, are 

 their favorite resorts. Mr. Scott did not find this species very common at Riverside, 

 Pinal county, Arizona, in 1882. On May 5 a nest was found built in a Cottonwood 

 tree thirty-five feet from the ground, almost at the extremity of the branches. 

 Pour sets of the eggs, with the nests, of Costa's Hummer, collected in the neighbor- 

 hood of Banning, California, May 12 and 13, 1884, are before me. The nests were 

 built in shrubs, varying from six to twelve f?et in height. Two of the nests rest in 

 slender forks, while the other two are built on small twigs. The materials in these 

 do not differ essentially from those in ten nests of Anna's Hummingbird, consisting 

 •of soft, downy, yellowish or grayish vegetable substances, with here and there bits 

 ■of flower stems, the whole covered on the outside with spider webs. Each of these 

 nests contained two eggs, and they exhibit the following sizes: .49x.31, .49x.29; 

 .45X.30, .47X.31; .48x.30, 49x.30; .45x.32, .46x.30. 



• The Auk, Vol. V,, pp. 168-169. 



