The Allen Hummer 
when hatched resemble 
tiny black bugs. Their 
bills are mere begin¬ 
nings, not over one-six¬ 
teenth of an inch in 
length, and serve to 
point the relationship of 
this group with the tiny- 
beaked Swifts and 
Gnatcatchers, who are 
also Macrochires. 
The Hummer diet 
is not exclusively honey, 
as was once supposed, 
but the nectar of flowers 
is still a large element. 
For the rest, honey¬ 
eating insects, fellow 
tapsters, found in the 
corolla of flowers, are 
largely preyed upon. 
Along about the first of 
May all Santa Barbara 
Hummers, especially the 
Allens and the Black- 
chins, are likely to have 
yellow crowns. They 
are gathering sweets 
from a coarse mint, the Taken near Santa Barbara Photo b\ the Author 
, ^ i - A CLOSER VIEW 
Crimson S3.g6 \<oCLlVT(l the hummers are not guaranteed to be allen’s, however 
spathacea), and the 
yellow pollen of the two protruding stamens adheres to the bird’s crown 
as it pushes its way in. Inasmuch as the style of this plant projects 
further than the stamens and overarches them, it would seem that this 
arrangement ought to facilitate self- rather than cross-fertilization. 
Although not resident in winter upon the mainland of California, 
the Allen Hummers return very early to take up the duties of incubation. 
Dr. Cooper mentions seeing a bird, undoubtedly of this species, on the 
5th of February, 1862; and Bradford Torrey saw one at the same place 
on the 26th of January, 1908. Mr. Bowles established the earliest 
nesting record in a set taken at Santa Barbara on the 13th of February, 
1912. He took another on the 19th of that same month. Nesting, 
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