240 
HUMMINGBIRDS 
specked only with green. 
Adult female: upper parts bronzy and rufous, rufous on rump and tail 
coverts; under parts whitish, throat sometimes with a few 
central brilliant feathers ; sides shaded with rufous ; tail feath¬ 
ers rufous at base, the middle ones green nearly to base ; outer 
ones with broad blackish subterminal band and white tips ; 
outside feather more than .10 wide. Young males: similar to 
adult female, but feathers of upper parts edged with rusty, 
rump rufous, and throat showing specks of metallic red. Young 
females: similar to young males, but rump green and throat 
Male: length 3.25-3.70, wing 1.50-1.60, tail 
1.30-1.35, bill.60. Female: length 3.50-3.90, 
wing 1.75-1.80, tail 1.25-1.30, bill .65-.70. 
Remarks. — The male may be told by its 
reddish back and the nick in the second tail 
feather. See remarks under S. platycercus. 
Distribution. — Breeds in Transition and 
Canadian zones of western North America 
from the higher mountains of southern Cali¬ 
fornia and Arizona north to latitude 61° in 
Alaska ; during migrations east to Montana, 
Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, and west¬ 
ern Texas; winters in southern Mexico. 
Nest. — Lined with down, and decorated 
with mosses, lichens, and bark; often placed 
in ferns, bushes, trees, and vines overhanging 
embankments. Eggs : usually 2, white. 
Food. — Insects such as those found on wild 
currant and gooseberry bushes, cherry-tree blossoms, fire-weed, Castilleia , 
Gilia, Pentstemon, and Agave flowers. 
Fig. 316. Rufous Hummingbird. 
During the spring migration rufus, the big brown hummer, is 
common in southern California, especially about the blooming orange 
groves and the wild gooseberry bushes scattered through the cha¬ 
parral. 
On the birds’ breeding ground the flowers they feed on, as far as 
I have observed, are mainly red, as the hummer’s coloration might 
suggest. On San Francisco Mountain, Arizona, they were es¬ 
pecially fond of the scarlet pentstemons. On Mount Shasta they fed 
from the painted-cups, tiger lilies, and columbines. Any spot of 
red would attract them as it does other hummers, and they investi¬ 
gated it fearlessly even when it adorned the person of a collector. 
One of the birds actually crossed a wide meadow of green brakes 
straight to a single columbine standing most inconspicuously near 
the woods. But the painted-cups were their especial delight on 
Shasta, and a meadow full of the flowers was fairly alive with them. 
When attending strictly to his meal a hummer would circle sys¬ 
tematically around the cup, probing its tubes as he went, but for 
the most part the squeaking, pugnacious little scraps would be 
whizzing in and out, gleams of green, gold, or scarlet glancing 
from their gorgets as they streaked after one another, climbing the 
