May, 1918 COSTA'S HUMMINGBIRD 115 



Mouche decrit par M. Bourcier sous le nom d'Ornismya costae, n'ont ete 

 decrits et figures que d'apres des iudividus rapportes par la Venus". Dr. 

 Adolphe Siniou Neboux was surgeon major on the "Venus", and his statement 

 clearly shows that these species were known at that time only from specimens 

 brought back by that vessel. 



The "Venus", a French frigate, in command of Captain Abel du Petit- 

 Thouars, sailed from Brest, France, December 29, 1836, and after a voyage 

 around the world returned to that port June 24, 1839. According to Bancroft 

 (Hist. Calif., IV, 1886, p. 147), the primary object of this voyage was to investi- 

 gate the whale fisheries of the North Pacific with a view to the further devel- 

 opment of that industry and the protection of French interests. Taking a 

 southwest course the vessel touched at Teneriffe, Rio Janeiro, Valparaiso, Cal- 

 lao, Honolulu, Petropavlovski, Kamchatka, and arrived at Monterey, October 

 18, 1837. She then had 300 men on board, scurvy had appeared, and the crew 

 was in need of fresh provisions. Nearly a month was spent in securing supplies 

 and making scientific observations at Monterey. On November 14 she weighed 

 anchor for Magdalena Bay, Lower California, and thence proceeded to Mazat- 

 lan, San Bias, Acapulco, and points in the South Pacific. From the list of 

 places visited by the "Venus" (Voyage autour du Monde, III, Appendix, 1841), 

 it appears that the ports just mentioned were the only ones on the coast of 

 North America at which the vessel stopped. Twenty-seven days (October 18 to 

 November 14) were spent at Monterey, 11 (November 25 to December 6) at 

 Magdalena Bay, 6 (December 12 to 18) at Mazatlan, 6 (December 21 to 27) at 

 San Bias, and 15 (January 8 to 23, 1838) at Acapulco. 



As already stated, the original habitat of Costa's Hummingbird was given 

 as California; but in a brief summary of the zoological collections of the "Ve- 

 nus" (Voyage, III, p. 468), Blainville mentions a new hummingbird (evidently 

 referring to this species) as having been taken at San Bias. California is evi- 

 dently a slip for Lower California, and San Bias is clearly an error as the spe- 

 cies has not as yet been found so far south. From what we now know of the 

 distribution of Costa's Hummingbird the only ports at which the type speci- 

 men could have been obtained on this voyage were Monterey, Magdalena Bay, 

 or Mazatlan. If Mazatlan had been the port the locality would almost cer- 

 tainly have been mentioned as Mexico and not California. If California is cor- 

 rect, Monterey must be the type locality and late October or early November 

 the date. As a matter of fact this hummingbird rarely occurs on the coast of 

 California north of Santa Barbara, and then only in the breeding season. In 

 winter it migrates south of San Diego and usually leaves in September. Mon- 

 terey in late autumn is therefore an almost impossible locality. On the 

 other hand, Magdalena Bay, Lower California, given as the type locality by 

 Parzudaki, who handled the type specimen upon its arrival in Paris, is precise- 

 ly the place where the bird would naturally be found in November or early 

 December, and may be safely accepted as the true type locality. This correc- 

 tion was adopted by Baird (Kept. Pacific R. R. Surv., IX, 1858, p. 138, and in 

 Cooper's Ornithology of Calif., 1870, p. 360), but has been lost sight of by later 

 authors. 



If, then, Calypte costae was described from a winter specimen from Lower 

 California, when was it found in California and what was its subsequent his- 

 tory? Apparently the first record of its capture in California was made by 

 John Xantus who collected at Fort Tejon from May, 1857, to November, 1858, 



