366 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD: Stellula calliope (Gould) 
Description. — Male: Length about 2.7-3 inches, wing 1.5-1.6, tail .9-1.1, bill 
.5-.6. Female: Length about 3.5 inches, wing 1.7-1.8, tail 1.1, bill .5-.6. Tail 
with middle feathers broadest near tip; leg partly feathered. Adult male: Upperparts 
including top of head metallic bronze-green , but tail feathers dusky, usually with paler 
tips and more or less brown at base; wing quills dusky, 
very faintly glossed with purplish; gorget with feathers 
narrow , much elongated posteriorly; metallic reddish purple 
(solferino ) with conspicuous while bases; chest whitish, 
rest of underparts grayish washed with brownish buff 
and green; iris dark brown, bill black or dusky, under 
mandible flesh-color in life, feet dusky. Adult female: 
Upperparts metallic bronze- green, middle tail feathers 
duller, sometimes with dusky tips; others decreasingly 
green (or gray), crossed with black, and from the third 
pair tipped increasingly with white, bases slightly marked 
with brown; throat dull brownish white usually streaked 
or flecked with dusky or bronzy; median underparts buffy 
or dull whitish, sides and flanks cinnamon or buffy. Young 
male: Similar to adult female but generally with more 
rufous in the tail and one or more metallic purplish red 
feathers in the throat. Young female: Similar to adult 
but upperparts more bronzy, with feathers tipped with brown or buff. 
Comparisons. The white bases of the feathers of the gorget distinguish the 
adult male Calliope at sight. The female is one of the three in New Mexico which 
has brown at the base of the tail. (See Comparisons under Hummingbirds, p. 353.) 
Range. Breeds in upper Transition and Canadian Zones in mountains from 
southern British Columbia, southwestern Alberta, and Montana south to central- 
western Wyoming, southeastern Idaho, central-western Nevada, and Lower Califor¬ 
nia; winters in southern Mexico to Michoacan, Guerrero, and Mexico. In migration 
occurs in Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas. 
State Records.— There is no sure record of the nesting of the Calliope Hum¬ 
ming bird in New Mexico, nor any note on its occurrence there in the spring. It 
seems to be confined to the fall migration and the same is true of the whole Rocky 
Mountain region south of the regular breeding range in southern Idaho and north¬ 
western Wyoming. The earliest date of observation in New Mexico seems to be 
July 15 in 1886, when the first was seen at Apache, soon after which it became 
abundant (Anthony). It was seen in the San Luis Mountains July 20,1892 (Mearns), 
at Inscription Rock July 23-24, 1873 (ITenshaw), and becomes abundant in the 
mountains of northern New Mexico about the first of August. Apparently the males 
migrate before the females, for at Willis in 1883 up to August 10 the males had been 
at least ten times as numerous as the females (Henshaw); in Hondo Canyon at 8,200 
feet, August 8-9, females were taken (Bailey) 
The range in altitude is from about 5,000 feet at Apache and 6,500 feet on the 
Pecos (Surber), to 11,400 feet on Wheeler Peak, where one was seen July 30, 1904 
(Bailey). The most eastern record in the United States is that at Sierra Grande, 
where the species was found abundant on the mountain from base to summit, August 
10-22, 1903 (Ilowell). The State is deserted in September, the latest record being 
that of three birds taken at Albuquerque September 16, 1899 (Birtwell).—W. W. 
Cooke. 
From Smithsonian 
(Robert RiUgway) 
Fig. 64. Calliope Hum¬ 
mingbird 
The wings move so fast 
they show only hazily 
