mOCHILID^ — TBOCHILIN^ : HUMMING-BIRDS. 
463 
Fig. 307. — Tail 
of S. alleni, nat. size. 
Fig. 308. — Green-backed Rufous 
Humming-bird, cf , nat. size. (From 
Elliot. ) 
platycercus the same feather is 0.25 wide, and over 1.00 long.) Rocky Mts. to the Pacific, N. 
to Alaska ; the commonest and most extensively distributed species in the West. Noted as 
the nortliernmost known species of the family. (This is S. rufus, Gm., the true Nootka 
Sound Humming-bird," the $ easily known by its cinnamon-red back, and the nick in the 
next to the middle tail-feather. S. henshaivi Elliot.) 
413. S. al'leni. (To C. A. Allen, of California. Figs. 307, 308.) Green-backed Rufous Humming- 
bird. Allen Humming-bird. In generalities similar to the last. Two outer tail-feathers 
on each side very small and narrow, the 
outermost almost acicular ; next little 
larger ; third abruptly larger ; fourth from 
the outer smaller than third or middle 
pair. Upper parts golden-green, dullest 
on crown. Under tail-coverts, belly and 
sides cinnamon, paler on the median 
line, white on breast next to the gorget. 
Tail-feathers cinnamon, tipped and edged 
with dusky-purplish. Gorget fiery-red. 
Length about 3.00; wing 1.50; tail 1.18 ; bill 0.64. 9 
shnilar to 9 rufus; averaging smaller; tail-feathers nar- 
rower, especially the outer ones. Coast region of California 
and northward. (This is the bird of ten described as 9 
rufus ; carefully distinguished by Henshaw, Bull. Nutt. 
Club, ii, 1877, p. 53 ; considered by Elliot to be true 
rufus Gm.) 
413. S. platycer^cus. (Gr. nXarvs, platus, broad ; KepKos, Tcerhos, tail. Fig. 309.) Broad-tailed 
Humming-bird. $ : No scales on top of head ; crown like back. A gorget of scales, not 
prolonged into a rufi". Outer primary attenuate, acuminate, ending acicular, the point turned 
outward ; next primary also narrowed, not so much so as the first, its end obliquely incised with 
a slight nick. Tail ample ; middle feathers scarcely or not shorter than the next, but the rest 
rapidly graduated ; middle and several lateral ones broad, briefly acuminate, the outermost nar- 
rowed linearly with rounded end. Above, 
including crown, golden-green; the two 
middle tail-feathers purer shining grass- 
green; lateral tail-feathers purplish- 
dusky, some of them with narrow longi- 
tudinal chestnut edging only on one or 
the other web (a strong character of the 
species : compare extensively rufous tail- 
feathers of the two foregoing species). 
Gorget glancing lilac-red: other under 
parts whitish, glossed with golden -green 
on the sides and sometimes elsewhere. 
Quills purplish-dusky. Length nearly 
or quite 4.00; extent 4.75-5.00; wing 
nearly or quite 2.00 ; tail 1.35 ; bill 0.70. 9 : Outer primary narrow and falcate, but without 
special attenuation at end. Outermost tail-feather narrower than the rest, as in the $ , but the 
others rounded at ends, not acuminate. Lateral tail-feathers chestnut at base quite across, then 
black for a space, then white-tipped. Above, like $ ; below, no gorget, the throat white with 
dark specks ; no green on sides, which are more or less rufous, as in S. rufus 9 > fr^iiti which 
some care must be taken in discrimination. It is usually less rufous below ; middle tail-feathers 
Fig. 
(From Elliot. ) 
— Broad-tailed Humming-bird, (f, $, nat. size. 
