354 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRD: Archilochus alexandri (Bourcier and 
Mulsant) 
Plate 36 
Description. — Male: Length about 3.3-3.7 inches, wing 1.7, tail 1.2, bill .7. 
Female: Length about 3.9-4.1 inches, wing 1.9-2, tail 1.2-1.3, bill .7-8. Wing 
with six inner quills abruptly narrower than the rest, the outside primary strongly 
incurved; tail of adult male double rounded, of female, rounded; sides of rump 
with white tufts. Adult male: Upperparts, including top of head and middle tail 
feathers , dull metallic bronze-green; lateral ta ; l feathers wholly purplish black; wings 
dusky, faintly glossed with purplish. Gorget above opaque or velvet-black , below , a 
narrow band of metallic violet , or violet-purple, flashing blue and green and changing 
to black in striking contrast to white collar; rest of underparts, mostly whitish or 
grayish, greenish on sides. Adult female: Upperparts dull metallic bronze-green, 
the head duller or grayish, tail rounded , middle feathers like back, lateral tail feathers 
with white tips, black subterminal bands, and grayish or bronze-green bases (without 
brown); underparts grayish or whitish, the throat sometimes marked with dusky. 
Young male after the post juvenal molt: Similar to adult female but feathers of upper- 
parts tipped with buffy, underparts tinged with pale brownish, and throat generally 
marked with dusky and sometimes with a few iridescent purple feathers. Young 
female: Like young male but throat usually tinged with bull and upperparts more 
tipped with buffy than in adult. 
Comparisons. —The adult male Black-chinned with his velvety black, squarish 
gorget bordered below by a narrow band of violet next to the white collar is readily 
distinguished from all our hummingbirds. The female might be confused with the 
female Costa, except for the large amount of green on the outer tail feathers in the 
Black-chin. The young male might easily be confused with the same age and sex 
of Costa, but in the Black-chinned the tail feathers are broader and have wider sub- 
terminal black bands (Chapman). 
Range. —Breeds in Transition and Upper Sonoran Zones from southwestern 
British Columbia to northwestern Montana, south to central Texas, New Mexico, 
southern Tamaulipas, central Sonora, and northern Lower California; winters in 
western Mexico south to Colima, Guerrero, and Mexico. 
State Records. —The Black-chinned Hummingbird has been reported from 
only a few places in New Mexico, but these localities are so widely scattered as to 
make it probable that the species is more common in the State than the scanty 
records would indicate. [Ft was nesting at 4,500 feet at the Carlsbad Cave in 1924], 
was common at 5,000 feet on the Hondo west of Roswell June 9, 1899, and continued 
common to the foot of the Capitans at 6,000 feet (Bailey). It was noted June 23, 
1904, at Espanola, 5,500 feet (Surber); was fairly common at Shiprock, 5,000 feet 
(Gilman); occurred and probably nested at Fort Wingate, 7,000 feet (Lucas); was 
common up to 8,000 feet in San Miguel County, breeding late in June (Mitchell); 
eggs were taken in 1876 at Fort Bayard, 6,000 feet (Stephens); one was taken July 
28, 1908, at 5,100 feet, near the base of the Animas Mountains (Goldman); [it was 
noted at the north end of the Animas Mountains, May 8, 1920 (Ligon) ]; and it was 
found common in 1892 along the New Mexican boundary near the San Luis Moun¬ 
tains (Mearns). Its center of abundance during the breeding season lies between 
5,000 and 7,000 feet. 
It does not winter in New Mexico, but returns by the middle of April and remains 
until late September.—W. W. Cooke. 
Nest. —In trees or bushes, often near water 2 to 20 feet from the ground; made of 
plant down varying from white to sponge-colored, “agglutinated by the bird’s 
