364 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
Food. —Insects found on wild currant and gooseberry bushes, ocotillo blossoms, 
fire-weed, paint brush, gilia, pentstemon, and agave flowers. 
General Habits. —The brilliant Rufous Hummingbird, glancing 
red and gold as he passes, is known to the Taos Indians as the sun- 
bird; the more quietly tinted Broad-tailed, being called by them the 
Flower-bird. Sun-Elk told us that he had seen rufus —“the Red 
Hummingbird”—in the yellow pines on the hills above Pueblo Canyon 
and sometimes as low as the Pueblo. On August 6, 1904, he found one 
“red one” with about ten “green ones” near timberline on Lake Fork, 
feeding from red flowers, and secured one of the females. A few days 
later an adult male was found in Hondo Canyon at about 8,350 feet. 
No more were seen until we descended to 7,900 feet where Hondo 
Canyon widens into a little valley before opening into the Rio Grande. 
Here, between the cultivated fields of the Mexicans and the brushy 
south wall of the valley were beautiful wild flower gardens, patches of 
red castillejas, lavender lupines, and pink monardas. This garden 
strip was fairly squeaking with hummingbirds, “red” males in brilliant 
plumage chasing one another about in characteristic rufus fashion. 
When not buzzing about the flowers, darting after a neighbor through 
the air or in and out of the bushes, or resting quietly on the willows 
bordering the irrigation ditch, one would sometimes sweep out over 
a corn field and circle back, flashing by like a gleaming coal of fire. 
A patch of thistles on the edge of a wash near Pecos, on August 25, 
1903, was alive with hummingbirds, mostly females and young, about 
thirty being seen at one time. An immature male Calliope and two 
young Broad-tails were secured, and an adult male Rufous recognized. 
In the Animas Mountains, Major Goldman found the Rufous by 
far the most abundant of the hummingbirds, where it was generally seen 
“hovering about agave flowers between 5,500 and 6,000 feet altitude. 
After probing the flowers a few seconds,” he says, “the bird usually 
darts away with a buzz and a sharp and distinct rattling noise, but 
occasionally one may alight for a rest on a nearby branch, dead limbs 
apparently being preferred. An adult male was observed working on 
the flowers of a large agave and when a smaller hummer approached he 
was instantly pursued and driven off by the rufus , which returned in 
a second or two and alighted on a dead branch of a low bush, where 
he remained sitting quietly for several minutes, turning his head and 
peering in all directions” (MS). 
In the southwestern part of Grant County in 1886, Mr. Anthony 
noticed none of the Rufous Hummers until the last of July, when the 
first mescal blossoms appeared; but early in August when the mescal 
was in full bloom they came by the hundreds. “The blossoms of the 
agave were considered the especial property of rufus , nor were his 
rights often contested. If an unfortunate Broad-tail or Calliope 
