336 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1890. 



Rivoli, is one of the most abundant of those occurring in the State of 

 California, where it remains throughout the year. Its distribution 

 within that State is pretty general, though it is said to be much less 

 frequent in the low valleys than in the mountains in summer, probably 

 on account of the comparative scarcity of flowers. At San Diego it is 

 said to be more numerous in winter than in summer, as is probably 

 the case in other parts of southern California. Mr. Belding did not 

 find it in Lower California farther south than Cerros Island, where he 

 took a single specimen in April. Those individuals which pass beyond 

 the United States during their winter migration appear to go to north- 

 ern Mexico by way of Arizona, Mr. Henshaw having found it common 

 in the vicinity of Camp Grant from September 24 to 27, 1873. Mr. 

 Scott, however, found it so rare in that Territory that he met with but 

 a single specimen, which he took on October 1, 1883, in the Cataliua 

 Mountains, at an altitude of 5,000 feet, and he says * that Mr. Herbert 

 Brown has no record of its occurrence about Tucson at any season. 



At the place where Mr. Henshaw found them they were " by no 

 means rare," as he saw in the neighborhood of 20 during the four days 

 which he spent in collecting there. " They were always seen in the 

 immediate vicinity of the creeks, where only at this late season there 

 remained a few of the bright flowers about which they were seen hover- 

 ing. Their large size rendered them very conspicuous among the other 

 species, and as if aware of this they were much the shyest of all." f 



I have referred above to the beauty of this species, a fact which 

 seems to have impressed Mr. Gould also, judging from the following, 

 from Yol. in of his Monograph of the Trochilidse (p. 135) : 



When studying the diversified forms and coloring of the Trochilidte, I have fre- 

 quently been struck with the fact that those districts or countries having a metal- 

 liferous character are tenanted by species of Humming Birds which are more than 

 ordinarily brilliant and glittering. This is especially the case with the species in- 

 habiting Mexico and California: in illustration of this assertion, I may cite the three 

 California species, Selasphorus rufus, Calypte costce, and the present bird, C. anncu, all 

 of which are unequaled for the rich metallic brilliancy of certain parts of their 

 plumage, by any other members of the family. The two latter, C. costce and C. annce, 

 have not only the throat, but the entire head as glitteringly resplendent as if they 

 had been dipped in molten metal. 



For a very interesting account of the nesting habits of Calypte anna, 

 the reader is referred to an article, headed " Notes from California," in 

 the Ornithologist and Oologist, Vol. vu, p. 139. 



* The Auk, October, 1886, p. 431. 



t Report on Ornithological Specimens, Wheeler's Exp., 1873, pp. 130, 131. 



