368 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
A most interesting nest of the little Calliope, on exhibition in the 
National Museum, is one of those which Major Bendire describes as 
“marvels of ingenuity . . . mimicking a small dead pine cone so 
perfectly as to almost defy detection, unless one sees the bird fly on 
or off the nest” (1895, pp. 220-221). Calliope is said to build in the 
same tree for several years in succession. A birch and maple draw, 
Mr. Munro has found, is one of its favorite homes (1919b, p. 71), and 
here six or eight may be seen buzzing around a birch tree which a 
Red-naped Sapsucker has girdled. In the contests of its larger neigh¬ 
bors, Rufous and the Broad-tailed, Mr. Henshaw noted, it takes no 
part, when assailed, at once darting away to another spot, where it can 
feed without molestation (1886, p. 78). 
Additional Literature.—Weydemeyer, Winton, Condor, XXIX, 19-23,1927. 
RIVOLI HUMMINGBIRD: Eugenes fulgens (Swainson) 
Description.— Male: Length 4.5-5 inches, wing 2.9-3.1, tail 1.9-2, bill 1-1.2. 
Female: Wing 2.6-2.7 inches, tail 1.7-1.9, bill 1-1.1. Tail deeply emarginate in 
adult males, slightly emarginate or double-rounded in females, the feathers with 
rounded tips; legs partly feathered. Adult male: Top of head metallic violet or royal 
purple, sides of head and hind neck velvety black or green in different lights; gorget 
brilliant metallic emerald-green, chest, velvety black at some angles, bronze-green in 
others; rest of body mainly green, including tail, the tail feathers sometimes grayish 
at tip; wing quills dusky, faintly glossed; belly and flanks brownish or grayish; a 
white spot or streak behind eye; iris dark brown, bill dull black, feet dusky. Adult 
female: Upperparts, including four middle tail feathers, metallic bronze or green, the 
head duller; three outer tail feathers green at base, three black, tipped with grayish 
or brownish; underparts brownish or buffy grayish, sides glossed with metallic 
bronze or green; feathers of chin and throat with scaled appearance. Male injuvenal 
plumage: Intermediate in coloration between adult male and female, the crown partly 
violet, the throat partly green, and chest slightly mixed with black, the tail inter¬ 
mediate in form and color. Young female: Similar to adult female, but feathers of 
upperparts tipped with buffy. 
Comparlsons. The rare Rivoli, Blue-throated, and Broad-billed hummingbirds, 
which cross the New Mexico border from Mexico, may be grouped by themselves. 
Largely green, black, and brown, they have dark blue or green gorgets which con¬ 
trast strikingly with the pinks and reds of the more abundant United States hum¬ 
mingbirds. Of the three, the Rivoli ma} r be known by its green gorget, the blue- 
throated and Broad-billed by blue gorgets, and the Broad-billed by its partly carmine 
bill (in both sexes). The females may be distinguished by their tails. (See Com¬ 
parisons under Hummingbirds, p. 353.) 
Range. Breeds in Upper Sonoran Zone in mountains of southern Arizona, 
southwestern New Mexico, and Tamaulipas south through central Mexico and 
Oaxaca to Guatemala and Nicaragua; winters in the southern part of its range, north 
at least to central Mexico. 
State Records.— In the summer of 1892, from June 26 to July 23, Mearns 
found the Rivoli Hummingbird in the San Luis Mountains at about 6,500 feet on 
both sides of the New Mexico boundary. It was, of course, breeding, though no nests 
were seen. This is the northeastern limit of the range of the species—W. W. 
Cooke. 
