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436. Calliope Hummingbird. Stellula calliope. L, 2-75. A small Hummer. Male: 
iridescent bronze-green above, dusky white below. Throat and gorget composed of 
elongated lanceolate feathers of metallic rose-violet. Female: similar but without violet 
gorget. 
Distinctions. The male with gleaming violet gorget, elongated and projecting at the 
sides, is unmistakable. The female much Tike those of other species, but smaller and with 
less red overwash than the Rufous. 
It is smaller and with a more rounded tail than the Ruby-throated, the only Hummer 
that it is likely to be confused with in western Alberta. From the Black-chinned, it can 
be separated by its reddish flanks. 
Field Marks. The male with its brilliant reddish-violet gorget, like the half of a many- 
pointed star on a white ground, is easily recognized when it faces the observer. The female 
may be separated from the female Black-chinned by its rufous flanks, but it cannot be told 
in fife with any certainty from the Rufous, except when in hand. 
Nesting. Nest a beautiful structure of lichens and cobwebs on a branch. 
Distribution. Western North America from British Columbia to New Mexico. In 
Canada, southern British Columbia, part of the Alberta foothills, and, on the coast, north 
to Wrangell, Alaska. 
This little Hummer is quite common in the interior valleys of southern 
British Columbia. In common with the other Hummers it is attracted 
to the sweet oozing sap from Sapsucker drillings in black birches and about 
trees so tapped, the branches black with the sticky wetness, quite a cloud 
of mixed Hummingbirds will often be found. 
They are peppery, pugnacious little midgets, and never meet each 
other without a battle of elfin fury. They dash together squeaking in 
fine high tones almost above the limit of the ear to hear, tower into the air, 
exchange stroke and parry with their rapier-like bills, and then descend to 
opposite sides of the bush under examination only to meet and engage 
again shortly. None seems to be seriously damaged by the encounter, but 
they never learn to bear or forbear, and a sap-running tree is a centre of 
rapidly buzzing wings, thin, angry squeaks, and dashing forms mixing in 
constant fray, from which come flashes from gleaming throats of kaleidos- 
copic brillancy. Were Hummingbirds as large as their courage, their 
haunts would not be safe for anybody. 
Order — Passeres. Perching Birds 
The order Passeres, Passerine or Perching Birds, is the largest and 
most important division of modern birds. The lower and more generalized 
types of birds have in the past been in the ascendant; but today the 
highly specialized Passeres are dominant; they 
constitute nearly if not quite half our present living 
forms and are put at the head of the classification 
by systematists. They are rather difficult to 
diagnose popularly, but they have a great number 
of characters common to themselves and not shared 
by other orders — the highly developed larynx, a 
singing organ, with complicated muscular control, Foot of Percher. 
for example. All are not notable singers, but 
all are equipped with song mechanism. Generally, a bird may be referred 
to this order by a process of elimination, as not belonging to any 
of the previous orders. The feet (Figure 246) are not webbed, the hind toe 
is nearly as long as the middle one, and the whole foot is well adapted for 
perching. The bill is hard and horny, without cere or soft base, and the 
nostril tubes do not communicate with each other as in some of the other 
