188 



ANNA HUMMING-BIRD. 



-f-TRocHiLUs Anna, Less. 

 PLATE CCLII.— Males and Female. 



My good friend Thomas Nuttall, while travelling from the Rocky 

 Mountains toward California, happened to observe on a low oak bush a 

 Humming-bird's nest on which the female was sitting. Having cautiously 

 approached, he secured the bird with his hat. The male in the meantime 

 fluttered angrily around, but as my friend had not a gun, he was unable to 

 procure it. 



The nest, which he has presented to me, is attached to a small branch, 

 and several leaves from a twig issuing from it, which have apparently been 

 bent down for the purpose. It is very small, even for the size of the bird, 

 being an inch and a half in depth, and an inch and a quarter in breadth 

 externally at the mouth, while its internal diameter is ten-twelfths, and its 

 depth eight and a half twelfths. It is of a conical form, and composed of the 

 cottony down apparently of some species of willow, intermixed with scales 

 of catkins and a few feathers, and lined with the same substances. The 

 eggs, two in number, are pure white, of a nearly elliptical form, five-twelfths 

 of an inch long, and three and a quarter twelfths in their greatest breadth. 



The figures of the nest and female are taken from the specimens presented 

 to me by Mr. Nuttall. Those of the male I made from specimens, for 

 the use of which I am indebted to Mr. Loddige, of London, whose 

 collection of Humming-birds is unrivalled. This species is the fourth now 

 found within the limits of the United States. 



Oiseau-mouche Anna, Ornismya Anna, Less. Traite d'Ornith., p. 281. 

 Anna Hdmming-bird, Trochilus Anna, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. v. p. 238. 



Male, 3|f, wing, 2 T \. 



Rocky Mountains towards California. Common. Migratory. 



Adult Male. 



Bill long, very slender, cylindrical, slightly depressed at the base, acumi- 

 nate; upper mandible with the dorsal line straight, the ridge narrow at the 

 base and convex toward the end, the sides convex, the edges overlapping; 

 lower mandible with the angle very long and extremely narrow, the dorsal 



