Family TROCHILIDÆ.—The Humming-Birds.
Char. Least of all birds; sternum very deep; bill subulate, and generally longer than the head, straight, arched, or upcurved. Tongue composed of two lengthened cylindrical united tubes, capable of great protrusion, and bifid at tip; nostrils basal, linear, and covered by an operculum; wings lengthened, pointed; first quill usually longest except in Aithurus, where it is the second; primaries, 10; secondaries, 6; tail of ten feathers. Tarsi and feet very diminutive, claws very sharp. (Gould.)
There is no group of birds so interesting to the ornithologist or to the casual observer as the Humming-Birds, at once the smallest in size, the most gorgeously beautiful in color, and almost the most abundant in species, of any single family of birds. They are strictly confined to the continent and islands of America, and are most abundant in the Central American and Andean States, though single species range almost to the Arctic regions on the north and to Patagonia on the south, as well as from the sea-coast to the frozen summits of the Andes. Many are very limited in their range; some confined to particular islands, even though of small dimensions, or to the summits of certain mountain-peaks.
The bill of the Humming-Bird is awl-shaped or subulate; thin, and sharp-pointed; straight or curved; sometimes as long as the head, sometimes much longer. The mandibles are excavated to the tip for the lodgement of the tongue, and form a tube by the close apposition of their cutting edges. There is no indication of stiff bristly feathers at the base of the mouth. The tongue has some resemblance to that of the Woodpecker in the elongation of the cornua backwards, so as to pass round the back of the skull, and then anteriorly to the base of the bill. The tongue itself is of very peculiar structure, consisting anteriorly of two hollow threads closed at the ends and united behind. The food of the Humming-Bird consists almost entirely of insects, which are captured by protruding the tongue in flowers of various shapes without opening the bill very wide.
The genera of Humming-Birds are very difficult to define. This is partly owing to the great number of the species, of which nearly four hundred and fifty have been recognized by authors, all of them with but few exceptions diminutive in size and almost requiring a lens for their critical examination, so that characters for generic separation, distinct enough in other families, are here overlooked or not fully appreciated. A still greater difficulty, perhaps, is the great difference in form, especially of the tail, between the male and female, the young male occupying an intermediate position. The coloration, too, is almost always very different with sex and age, and usually any generic characters derived from features other than those of bill, feet, and wing do not apply to the females at all.
In the large number of species of Humming-Birds arranged in about one
hundred and thirty genera, only two subfamilies have been recognized, as follows:—
Phæthornithinæ. Anterior toes connected at the base. No metallic lustre to the dull plumage.
Trochilinæ. Anterior toes not connected at the base. Plumage brilliant, with more or less of metallic lustre, at least in the males.
The first-mentioned subfamily embraces five genera, and about fifty species, none of which are found in the United States. The Trochilinæ count nearly four hundred species and one hundred and twenty-five genera, and in the absence of any successful attempt to arrange them in subordinate groups, the difficulties of determination on the part of the tyro may readily be imagined.
Of the seven genera accredited to North America, with their ten species, we cannot pretend to do more than present an artificial analysis, which may serve to define them as compared with each other, but bear little reference to the family as a whole. The characters are selected partly from the shape of tail and partly from color.
Common Characters. All the North American Trochilidæ have metallic green backs, excepting Selasphorus rufus, this color extending over the top of head, except in Calypte (metallic red and violet), and Heliopædica (bluish-black). The latter alone has a white stripe through the eye. Atthis heloisæ alone has the tail tipped with white in the male. Females of all the species except Heliopædica have tail tipped with white; all have it rounded. All females lack the metallic throat. The males of the several genera belonging to North America may be distinguished as follows:—
I. Bill covered with feathers between nostrils.
A. Top of head green.
Feathers of throat not elongated.
Tail rounded or slightly emarginated, the feathers broad, rounded, and metallic rufous-purple, or greenish-blue. Wing more than 2.50 … Lampornis.
Tail more or less forked; feathers pointed, narrow, and without rufous or blue. Wing much less than 2.00 … Trochilus.
Throat-feathers elongated laterally into a kind of ruff. Tail-feathers edged or banded with cinnamon at base.
Tail cuneate, the outer primary attenuated at end. Innermost tail-feather green above.
Tail dusky at end … Selasphorus.
Tail tipped with white … Atthis.
Tail nearly even, and emarginated. Outer primary not attenuated at end. Innermost tail-feather brown above … Stellula.
B. Top of head metallic red or violet.
Metallic feathers of side of throat much elongated … Calypte.
II. Bill bare of feathers between the nostrils.
C. Top of head bluish-black; a white line through eye.
Metallic feathers of side of throat not elongated.
Tail nearly even, and slightly emarginated. Lateral feathers very broad and obtuse at end … Heliopædica.
We have included Lampornis in the list of United States genera on exceedingly doubtful evidence of the occurrence of L. mango, which was said to have been taken at Key West, and sent to Mr. Audubon, who figured it. The species, however, proves to be one belonging to Brazil, and not the Jamaican form (L. porphyrura, Gould), which might possibly have straggled there.
In reference to the large number of species of Trochilidæ, it may be well to remark that many differ by very slight, sometimes quite inappreciable characters, and are to be looked on as only climatic or geographical varieties. All those given for the United States are, however, well marked.
Additional species of Trochilidæ will doubtless yet be detected within our limits, especially in Arizona, New Mexico, and Southern Texas, where almost any of the Mexican table-land species may be looked for, such as Calypte floresi, Calothorax cyanopogon, etc. South Florida will probably yet furnish to us the Bahaman Doricha evelynæ.
The following synopsis expresses, perhaps, a more natural arrangement of the genera:—
A. Nasal operculum entirely covered by the frontal feathers; base of the bill narrow.
a. Tail forked, and unvariegated in the male. Outer primary strongly bowed, or curved inward at the end.
Stellula. Tail deeply emarginated in ♂, somewhat doubly rounded in ♀, but outer feather not longest; the feathers spatulate; outer primary very strongly bowed, and very broad at end. ♂. Gorget feathers linear, much elongated; only their terminal half colored; crown green like the back. ♀. Similar in form, but the intermediate feathers of tail longer than the external, instead of shorter.
Trochilus. Tail deeply emarginated in the male, the feathers attenuated toward tips; doubly rounded in ♀, and broader; outer primary strongly bowed, but narrow at end. ♂. Gorget feathers broad, short, squamate; colored blue or crimson to their bases. Crown green like the back.
Calypte. Tail as in Trochilus, but the external feather abruptly narrower than the next, with its edges nearly parallel. Outer primary as in Trochilus. Crown metallic (violet or crimson) like the throat. Female like that of Trochilus.
b. Tail rounded or graduated, and variegated in the male. Outer primary only slightly bowed, and narrow at end, except in ♀ of Atthis.
Selasphorus. Tail graduated in the ♂, the feathers attenuated at ends. Outer primary abruptly attenuated, the end turned outwards. Gorget feathers broad, elongated laterally, rose-purple or fire-color; crown green like the back; tail-feathers edged with rufous. ♀ with tail less graduated, and the feathers broader at ends. Outer primary broader, and not attenuated and turned outward at end.
Atthis. Sexes alike in form. Tail rounded; outer primary bowed at end, rather narrow in the ♂. Gorget feathers much elongated, posteriorly and laterally; tail-feathers tipped with white.
c. Tail rounded, or slightly emarginated, and usually unvariegated in either
sex; the feathers very broad, and rounded at the ends; primaries normal, the outer broad to the end, and moderately bowed.
Lampornis.[113] Bill cylindrical, considerably curved. Wing very long, reaching to, or beyond, the tip of the very broad tail. Size large (wing, 2.50, or more). The male dark-colored (green or black) beneath. Sexes sometimes alike (in West Indies).
B. Nasal operculum entirely uncovered; base of bill very broad. Female with tail-feathers not tipped with white.
Heliopædica. Sexes alike in form. First primary longest, much bowed toward end. Tail more than two thirds the wing, nearly square (a little emarginated in the ♂, slightly rounded in the ♀), the feathers very broad, rounded at ends. Color, metallic green above, white or rufous glossed with green below; a conspicuous white post-ocular stripe, and an auricular one of black beneath it. ♂. Forehead and chin black or metallic blue; throat rich metallic green. ♀. Forehead dull brownish-green; chin and throat white, glossed with green, or plain ochraceous; tail plain bluish-black or purplish-rufous, the middle feathers more or less green.
Thaumatias. Sexes alike in form and color. General form of Heliopædica, but tail emarginated, instead of rounded. Color nearly uniform green, with or without white throat and abdomen. Tail grayish-dusky, with an obscure subterminal band of black (with basal three fourths white in T. chionurus).
Habits. The habits and manners of the whole family of Trochilidæ are, in many striking respects, entirely peculiar to themselves, and without any known correspondence or close resemblance to those of any other kinds of birds, either in America or elsewhere. This family is found exclusively in America,
either in the islands or on the continent, and number in all not far from four hundred species, distributed into various subdivisions and genera, but all possessing, to a very large degree, the same common peculiarities, of which the well-known Ruby-throat of eastern North America may be taken as eminently typical. The habits and peculiarities of this numerous family have been closely studied, and many valuable facts in relation to them have been contributed by various naturalists; by none, perhaps, with more intelligent attention than by the eminent Swiss naturalist, M. H. de Saussure, in his visit to the West India Islands and Mexico, to whose observations we are largely indebted.
On the first visit of this naturalist to a savanna in the island of Jamaica, he at once noticed what he at first took to be a brilliant green insect, of rapid flight, approaching him by successive alternations of movements and pauses, and rapidly gliding among and over the network of interlacing shrubs. He was surprised by the extraordinary dexterity with which it avoided the movements of his net, and yet more astonished to find, when he had captured it, that he had taken a bird, and not an insect.
He soon satisfied himself that this entire family not only have the form and aspect of insects, but that they have also the same movements, the same habits, and the same manner of living, with certain insects. Their flight is exactly like that of an insect, and in this respect they form a remarkably exceptional group among birds. When we notice their long wings in our cabinet specimens, we naturally suppose that they use these instruments of flight in the same manner with the Swallow or the Swift. Yet investigation shows that, so very far from this, these wings, comparatively so very long, vibrate even more rapidly than do those of birds with proportionately the smallest wings, such as the Grebe, the Loon, and the Penguin, and that, more than this, they vibrate with an intensity so vastly superior, that they become wholly invisible in the wonderful rapidity of their movements.
The altogether exceptional character of their flight is a subject for never-ceasing astonishment. Until we actually witness it, we should never conceive it to be possible for a bird to vibrate its wings with so great a rapidity, and by them to support itself in the air in the same manner with the Anthraces and other aerial insects. This feat is rendered all the more surprising by the extreme narrowness of the wing and the comparative weight of the body, which is quite considerable, on account of the compactness of the flesh and bones, and the small size of the birds themselves, whose wings displace but a small quantity of air. The resistance of the air to the stroke of the wing of a bird should be, not in proportion to the surface of that wing, but to its square, or even to its cube, if the movement is very rapid. Hence it follows that a due proportion being required as between the weight of the body and the surface of this organ, a small bird cannot keep itself poised in the air except by means of vibrations more rapid than those of a larger kind. This is, without doubt, one explanation of the fact that Humming-Birds, in
their flight, are so insect-like. They pass from bush to bush as if suspended in the air, and pause over each flower, vibrating their wings, in precisely the same manner with the Sphinxes, and with the same humming sounds.
The flight of the Humming-Bird is of two kinds. One of these is used for a horizontal movement, and is so rapid that one can hardly follow it with the eye. This is accompanied by a kind of hissing sound. The other seems to keep the body in the air immovable, in one spot. For the latter purpose the bird assumes a position nearly vertical, and beats its wings with great intensity. These organs must vibrate all the more rapidly, because the immobility of the body requires a shorter stroke, and therefore the more frequently repeated. The equilibrium of the body is preserved by the alternate up and down strokes of the wings, no inconsiderable force being required to keep its immobility, besides that requisite for neutralizing the weight of the body.
The Humming-Bird is entirely aerial. They pass with the rapidity of an arrow, stop, rest for a few seconds on some small branch, and then suddenly depart with so much rapidity that we cannot trace its flight. They disappear as if by enchantment. Their life is one of feverish excitement. They seem to live more intensely than any other being on our globe. From morning to night they traverse the air in quest of honeyed flowers. They come like a flash of light, assume a vertical position without any support, throw their tail forward, expanding it like a fan, vibrating their wings with such rapidity that they become absolutely invisible, plunging, at the same time, their thread-like tongues to the bottom of some long corolla, and then they have gone as suddenly as they came. They are never known to rest on a branch in order more at their leisure to plunge their tongue into the flower. Their life is too short for this delay; they are in too great haste; they can only stop long enough to beat their wings before each flower for a few seconds, but long enough to reach its bottom and to devour its inhabitants. When we take into consideration how entirely aerial is their life, and the prodigious relative force requisite to enable them to keep suspended in the air during the entire day, almost incessantly, either in rapid motion or accomplishing the most violent vibrations, we can but be amazed at the extraordinary powers of flight and endurance they manifest.
The Humming-Bird enjoys even the most tropical heat, avoids shade, and is easily overcome by cold. Though some travellers speak of having met with these birds in the depths of forests, Saussure discredits their statements, having never found any in such situations. They prefer open flowery fields, meadows, gardens, and shrubbery, delighting to glitter in the sun’s rays, and to mingle with the swarm of resplendent insects with which tropical regions abound, and with the habits of which their own so well accord. Nearly all live in the open sun, only a very few are more or less crepuscular and never to be seen except very early in the morning or in the evening twilight.
Mr. Salvin is of the opinion that Humming-Birds do not remain long on the wing at once, but rest frequently, choosing for that purpose a small dead or leafless twig at the top, or just within the branches of the tree. While in this position they trim their feathers and clean their bill, all the time keeping up an incessant jerking of their wings and tail.
In Mexico, where these birds are very abundant, they are attracted by the blossoms of the Agave americana, and swarm around them like so many beetles. As they fly, they skim over the fields, rifle the flowers, mingling with the bees and the butterflies, and during the seasons of bloom, at certain hours of the day, the fields appear perfectly alive with them. The ear receives unceasingly the whistling sounds of their flight, and their shrill cries, resembling in their sharp accent the clash of weapons. Although the Humming-Bird always migrates at the approach of cold weather, yet it is often to be found at very considerable elevations. The traveller Bourcier met with them on the crater of Pichincha, and M. Saussure obtained specimens of Calothorax lucifer in the Sierra de Cuernavaca, at the height of more than 9,500 feet.
While we must accept as a well-established fact that the Humming-Birds feed on insects, demonstrated long since by naturalists, it is equally true that they are very fond of the nectar of flowers, and that this, to a certain extent, constitutes their nourishment. This is shown by the sustenance which captive Humming-Birds receive from honey and other sweet substances, food to which a purely insectivorous bird could hardly adapt itself.
Notwithstanding their diminutive size the Humming-Birds are notorious for their aggressive disposition. They attack with great fury anything that excites their animosity, and maintain constant warfare with whatever is obnoxious to them, expressly the Sphinxes or Hawk-Moths. Whenever one of these inoffensive moths, two or three times the size of a Humming-Bird, chances to come too early into the garden and encounters one of these birds, he must give way or meet with certain injury. At sight of the insect the bird attacks it with his pointed beak with great fury. The Sphinx, overcome in this unlooked-for attack, beats a retreat, but, soon returning to the attractive flowers, is again and again assaulted by its infuriated enemy. Certain destruction awaits these insects if they do not retire from the field before their delicate wings, lacerated in these attacks, can no longer support them, and they fall to the ground to perish from other enemies.
In other things the Humming-Bird also shows itself all the more impertinent and aggressive that it is small and weak. It takes offence at everything that moves near it. It attacks birds much larger than itself, and is rarely disturbed or molested by those it thus assails. All other birds must make way. It is possible that in some of these attacks it may be influenced by an instinctive prompting of advantages to be gained, as in the case of the spider, in whose nets they are liable to be entangled, and whose
webs often seriously incommode them. When a Humming-Bird perceives a spider in the midst of its net, it rarely fails to make an attack, and with such rapidity that one cannot follow the movement, but in the twinkling of an eye the spider has disappeared. This is not only done to small spiders, which doubtless they devour, but also to others too large to be thus eaten.
Not content with thus chastising small enemies, the Humming-Bird also contends with others far more powerful, and which give them a good deal of trouble. They have been known to engage in an unequal contest with the Sparrow-Hawk, yet rarely without coming off the conquerors. In this strife they have the advantage of numbers, their diminutive size, and the rapidity and the irregularity of their own movements. Several unite in these attacks, and, in rushing upon their powerful enemy, they always aim at his eyes. The Hawk soon appreciates his inability to contend with these tormenting little furies, and beats an ignominious retreat.
Advantage is taken of this aggressive disposition of these birds, by the hunter, to capture them. In their combats with one another, or in their rash attacks upon various offensive objects, even upon the person of the snarer himself, they are made prisoners through their own rashness and reckless impetuosity.
In enumerating the prominent characteristics of this remarkable family, we should not omit to refer to the lavish profusion of colors of every tint and shade, excelling in lustre and brilliancy even the costliest gems, with which Nature has adorned their plumage. And not only are nearly all the birds of this group thus decked out with hues of the most dazzling brightness and splendor, when alive and resplendent in the tropical sun, but many also display the most wonderfully varying shades and colors, according to the position in which they are presented to the eye. The sides of the fibres of each feather are of a different color from the surface, and change as seen in a front or an oblique direction, and while living, these birds, by their movements, can cause these feathers to change very suddenly to very different hues. Thus the Selasphorus rufus can change in a twinkling the vivid fire-color of its expanded throat to a light green, and the species known as the Mexican Star (Cynanthus lucifer) changes from a bright crimson to an equally brilliant blue.
The nests and the eggs of the Humming-Birds, though in a few exceptional cases differing as to the form and position of the former, are similar, so far as known, in the whole family. The eggs are always two in number, white and unspotted, oblong in shape, and equally obtuse at either end. The only differences to be noticed are in the relative variations in size. The nests are generally saddled upon the upper side of a horizontal branch, are cup-like in shape, and are largely made up of various kinds of soft vegetable down, covered by an outward coating of lichens and mosses fastened upon them by the glue-like saliva of the bird. In T. colubris the soft inner portion of the nest is composed of the delicate downy covering of the leaf-buds
of several kinds of oaks. In Georgia the color of this down is of a deep nankeen hue, but in New England it is nearly always white. At first the nest is made of this substance alone, and the entire complement of eggs, never more than two, is sometimes laid before the covering of lichens is put on by the male bird, who seems to amuse himself with this while his mate is sitting upon her eggs.
Genus STELLULA, Gould.
Stellula, Gould, Introd. Trochil. 1861, 90. (Type, Trochilus calliope, Gould.)
Gen. Char. Bill rather longer than the head; straight. Wings much developed, reaching beyond the tail, which is short, nearly even, or slightly rounded, and with the inner-most feathers abruptly short; the outer feather rather narrower and more linear than the others, which have a rather spatulate form. Metallic throat-feathers elongated and rather linear and loose, not forming a continuous metallic surface. Central tail-feather without green.
Stellula calliope.
17992 ♂
This genus, established by Gould, has a slight resemblance to Atthis, but differs in absence of the attenuated tip of outer primary. The outer three tail-feathers are longest and nearly even (the second rather longest), the fourth and fifth equal and abruptly a little shorter, the latter without any green. The feathers are rather broad and wider terminally (the outermost least so), and are obtusely rounded at end. The tail of the female is quite similar. The absence of green on the tail in the male seems a good character. But one species is known of the genus.
Calothorax is a closely allied genus, in which the tail is considerably longer. One species, C. cyanopogon, will probably be yet detected in New Mexico.
Stellula calliope, Gould.
THE CALLIOPE HUMMING-BIRD.
Trochilus calliope, Gould, Pr. Z. S. 1847, 11 (Mexico). Calothorax calliope, Gray, Genera, I, 100.—Bon. Rev. Mag. Zoöl. 1854, 257.—Gould, Mon. Troch. III, pl. cxlii.—Xantus, Pr. A. N. Sc. 1859, 190.—Elliot, Illust. Birds N. A. I, xxiii. Stellula calliope, Gould, Introd. Troch. 1861, 90.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 363.
Sp. Char. Male above, except on tail, golden-green, beneath white, the sides glossed with green, the flanks somewhat with rusty; crissum pure white. Throat-feathers pure white at base, terminal half violet-red, more reddish than in Atthis heloisæ; the sides of neck pure white. Tail-feathers brown, edged at base, especially on inner webs, but inconspicuously, with rufous; the ends paler, as if faded; central feathers like the rest; under mandible yellow. Length, 2.75; wing, 1.60; tail, 1.00; bill above to base of feathers, .55. Female without the metallic gorget (replaced by a few dusky specks), and the throat-feathers not elongated; no green on sides, and more tinged with rufous beneath. A white crescent under the eye. Tail more rounded and less emarginate than in the male.
The outer three feathers green at base, then black, and tipped with white; the fourth green and black; the fifth green, with a dusky shade at end; all, except central, edged internally at base with rufous. The under mandible is paler at base than elsewhere, but not yellowish-white as in the male.
Hab. Mountains of Washington Territory, Oregon, and California, to Northern Mexico. East to East Humboldt Mountains (Ridgway); Fort Tejon (Xantus); Fort Crook (Feilner).
The male bird is easily distinguished from other North American species by its very small size, the snowy-white bases of the elongated loose throat-feathers, and by the shape of the tail, as also the absence, at least in the several males before us, of decided metallic green on the central tail-feathers. The females resemble those of A. heloisæ most closely, but have longer bills and wings, broader tail-feathers, and their rufous confined to the edges, instead of crossing the entire basal portion. Selasphorus platycercus and rufus are much larger, and have tails marked more as in A. heloisæ.
Habits. This interesting species was first met with as a Mexican Humming-Bird, on the high table-lands of that republic, by Signor Floresi. His specimens were obtained in the neighborhood of the Real del Monte mines. As it was a comparatively rare bird, and only met with in the winter months, it was rightly conjectured to be only a migrant in that locality.
This species is new to the fauna of North America, and was first brought to the attention of naturalists by Mr. J. K. Lord, one of the British commissioners on the Northwest Boundary Survey. It is presumed to be a mountain species, found in the highlands of British Columbia, Washington Territory, Oregon, California, and Northern Mexico.
Early in May Mr. Lord was stationed on the Little Spokan River, superintending the building of a bridge. The snow was still remaining in patches, and no flowers were in bloom except the brilliant pink Ribes, or flowering currant. Around the blossoms of this shrub he found congregated quite a number of Humming-Birds. The bushes seemed to him to literally gleam with their flashing colors. They were all male birds, and of two species; and upon obtaining several of both they proved to be, one the Selasphorus rufus, the other the present species, one of the smallest of Humming-Birds, and in life conspicuous for a frill of minute pinnated feathers, encircling the throat, of a delicate magenta tint, which can be raised or depressed at will. A few days after the females arrived, and the species then dispersed in pairs.
He afterwards ascertained that they prefer rocky hillsides at great altitudes, where only pine-trees, rock plants, and an alpine flora are found. He frequently shot these birds above the line of perpetual snow. Their favorite resting-place was on the extreme point of a dead pine-tree, where, if undisturbed, they would sit for hours. The site chosen for the nest was usually the branch of a young pine, where it was artfully concealed amidst the fronds at the very end, and rocked like a cradle by every passing breeze.
Dr. Cooper thinks that he met with this species in August, 1853, on the summit of the Cascade Mountains, but mistook the specimens for the young of Selasphorus rufus.
Early in June, 1859, Mr. John Feilner found these birds breeding near Pitt River, California, and obtained their nests.
This species was obtained by Mr. Ridgway only on the East Humboldt Mountains, in Eastern Nevada. The two or three specimens shot were females, obtained in August and September, and at the time mistaken for the young of Selasphorus platycercus, which was abundant at that locality.
Dr. W. J. Hoffman writes, in relation to this species, that on the 20th of July, 1871, being in camp at Big Pines, a place about twenty-seven miles north of Camp Independence, California, on a mountain stream, the banks of which are covered with an undergrowth of cottonwood and small bushes, he frequently saw and heard Humming-Birds flying around him. He at length discovered a nest, which was perched on a limb directly over the swift current, where it was sometimes subjected to the spray. The limb was but half an inch in thickness, and the nest was attached to it by means of thin fibres of vegetable material and hairs. It contained two eggs. The parents were taken, and proved to be this species. There were many birds of the same kind at this point, constantly on the tops of the small pines in search of insects.
Genus TROCHILUS, Linnæus.
Trochilus, Linnæus, Systema Naturæ, 1748 (Agassiz).
Trochilus colubris.
1101 ♀
Gen. Char. Metallic gorget of throat nearly even all round. Tail forked; the feathers lanceolate, acute, becoming gradually narrower from the central to the exterior. Inner six primaries abruptly and considerably smaller than the outer four, with the inner web notched at the end.
Trochilus colubris. ♂
1100
The female has the outer tail-feathers lanceolate, as in the male, though much broader. The outer feathers are broad to the terminal third, where they become rapidly pointed, the tip only somewhat rounded; the sides of this attenuated portion (one or other, or both) broadly and concavely emarginated, which distinguishes them from the females of Selasphorus and Calypte, in which the tail is broadly linear to near the end, which is much rounded without any distinct concavity.
A peculiarity is observable in the wing of the two species of Trochilus as restricted, especially in T. colubris, which we have not noticed in other North American genera. The outer four primaries are of the usual shape, and diminish gradually in size; the remaining six, however, are abruptly
much smaller, more linear, and nearly equal in width (about that of inner web of the fourth), so that the interval between the fifth and fourth is from two to five times as great as that between the fifth and sixth. The inner web of these reduced primaries is also emarginated at the end. This character is even sometimes seen in the females, but to a less extent, and may serve to distinguish both colubris and alexandri from other allied species where other marks are obscured.
The following diagnosis will serve to distinguish the species found in the United States:—
Common Characters. Above and on the sides metallic green. A ruff of metallic feathers from the bill to the breast, behind which is a whitish collar, confluent with a narrow abdominal stripe; a white spot behind the eye. Tail-feathers without light margins.
Tail deeply forked (.30 of an inch). Throat bright coppery-red from the chin. Tail of female rounded, emarginated … T. colubris.
Larger. Tail slightly forked (.10 of an inch). Throat gorget with violet, steel, green, or blue reflections behind; anteriorly opaque velvety-black. Tail of female graduated; scarcely emarginated … T. alexandri.
Trochilus colubris, Linnæus.
RUBY-THROATED HUMMING-BIRD.
Trochilus colubris, Linn. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 191.—Wilson, Am. Orn. II, 1810, 26, pl. x.—Aud. Orn. Biog. I, 1832, 248, pl. xlvii.—Ib. Birds Am. IV, 1842, 190, pl. ccliii.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 131.—Max. Cab. J. VI, 154.—Samuels, 111.—Allen, B. Fla. 301. Ornisyma colubris, Deville, Rev. et Mag. Zool. May, 1852 (habits). Trochilus aureigaster, Lawrence (alcoholic specimens).
Sp. Char. Tail in the male deeply forked; the feathers all narrow lanceolate-acute. In the female slightly rounded and emarginate; the feathers broader, though pointed. Male, uniform metallic green above; a ruby-red gorget (blackish near the bill), with no conspicuous ruff; a white collar on the jugulum; sides of body greenish; tail-feathers uniformly brownish-violet. Female, without the red on the throat; the tail rounded and emarginate, the inner feathers shorter than the outer; the tail-feathers banded with black, and the outer tipped with white; no rufous or cinnamon on the tail in either sex. Length, 3.25; wing, 1.60; tail, 1.25; bill, .65. Young males are like the females; the throat usually spotted, sometimes with red; the tail is, in shape, more like that of the old male.
Hab. Eastern North America to the high Central Plains; south to Brazil. Localities: Cordova (Scl. P. Z. S. 1856, 288); Guatemala (Scl. Ibis, I, 129); Cuba (Cab. J. IV, 98; Gundl. Rep. I, 1866, 291); S. E. Texas (Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 470, breeds); Veragua (Salv. P. Z. S. 1870, 208).
The Trochilus aureigaster (aureigula?) of Lawrence, described from an alcoholic specimen in the Smithsonian collection, differs in having a green throat, becoming golden towards the chin. It is quite probable, however, that the difference is the result of immersion in spirits.
PLATE XLVII.
1. Trochilus alexandri. ♂ Cal., 44959.
2. Trochilus colubris. ♂ Pa., 2713.
3. Heliopædica xantusi. ♂ Cape St. Lucas.
4. Selasphorus rufus. ♂ Oregon, 2896.
5. Selasphorus platycercus. ♂ Rocky Mts., 10847.
6. Atthis heloisæ. ♂ Mex., 25874.
7. Calypte anna. ♂ Cal., 5501.
8. Calypte costæ. ♂ Cal., 39397.
9. Stellula calliope. ♂ Cal., 17992.
The red of the throat appears paler in some Mexican and Guatemalan
skins; others, however, are not distinguishable from the northern specimens.
Habits. This species is found throughout eastern North America, as far west as the Missouri Valley, and breeds from Florida and the valley of the Rio Grande to high northern latitudes. Richardson states that it ranges at least to the 57th parallel, and probably even farther north. He obtained specimens on the plains of the Saskatchewan, and Mr. Drummond found one of its nests near the source of the Elk River. Mr. Dresser found this bird breeding in Southwestern Texas, and also resident there during the winter months, and I have received their nests and eggs from Florida and Georgia. It was found by Mr. Skinner to be abundant in Guatemala during the winter months, on the southern slope of the great Cordillera, showing that it chooses for its winter retreat the moderate climate afforded by a region lying between the elevations of three and four thousand feet, where it winters in large numbers. Mr. Salvin noted their first arrival in Guatemala as early as the 24th of August. From that date the number rapidly increased until the first week in October, when it had become by far the most common species about Dueñas. It seemed also to be universally distributed, being equally common at Coban, at San Geronimo, and the plains of Salamá.
The birds of this species make their appearance on our southern border late in March, and slowly move northward in their migrations, reaching Upper Georgia about the 10th of April, Pennsylvania from the last of April to about the middle of May, and farther north the last of May or the first of June. They nest in Massachusetts about the 10th of June, and are about thirteen days between the full number of eggs and the appearance of the young. They resent any approach to their nest, and will even make angry movements around the head of the intruder, uttering a sharp outcry. Other than this I have never heard them utter any note.
Attempts to keep in confinement the Humming-Bird have been only partially successful. They have been known to live, at the best, only a few months, and soon perish, partly from imperfect nourishment and unsuitable food, and probably also from insufficient warmth.
Numerous examinations of stomachs of these birds, taken in a natural state, demonstrate that minute insects constitute a very large proportion of their necessary food. These are swallowed whole. The young birds feed by putting their own bills down the throats of their parents, sucking probably a prepared sustenance of nectar and fragments of insects. They raise, I think, but one brood in a season. The young soon learn to take care of themselves, and appear to remain some time after their parents have left. They leave New England in September, and have all passed southward beyond our limits by November.
A nest of this bird, from Dr. Gerhardt, of Georgia, measures 1.75 inches in its external diameter and 1.50 in height. Its cavity measures 1.00
in depth and 1.25 inches in breadth. It is of very homogeneous construction, the material of which it is made being almost exclusively a substance of vegetable origin, resembling wool, coarse in fibre, but soft, warm, and yielding, of a deep buff color. This is strengthened, on the outside, by various small woody fibres; the whole, on the outer surface, entirely and compactly covered by a thatching of small lichens, a species of Parmelia.
A nest obtained in Lynn, Mass., by Mr. George O. Welch, in June, 1860, was built on a horizontal branch of an apple-tree. It measures 1.50 inches in height, and 2.25 in its external diameter. The cavity is more shallow, measuring .70 of an inch in depth and 1.00 in diameter. It is equally homogeneous in its composition, being made of very similar materials. In this case, however, the soft woolly material of which it is woven is finer in fibre, softer and more silky, and of the purest white color. It is strengthened on the base with pieces of bark, and on the sides with fine vegetable fibres. The whole nest is beautifully covered with a compact coating of lichens, a species of Parmelia, but different from those of the Georgian nest.
The fine silk-like substance of which the nest from Lynn is chiefly composed is supposed to be the soft down which appears on the young and unexpanded leaves of the red-oak, immediately before their full development. The buds of several of the oaks are fitted for a climate liable to severe winters, by being protected by separate downy scales surrounding each leaf. In Massachusetts the red-oak is an abundant tree, expands its leaves at a convenient season for the Humming-Bird, and these soft silky scales which have fulfilled their mission of protection to the embryo leaves are turned to a good account by our tiny and watchful architect. The species in Georgia evidently make use of similar materials from one of the southern oaks.
The eggs measure .50 by .35 of an inch, and are of a pure dull white.
Trochilus alexandri, Bourc. & Mulsant.
BLACK-CHINNED HUMMING-BIRD.
Trochilus alexandri, Bourcier & Mulsant, Ann. de la Soc. d’Agric. de Lyons, IX, 1846, 330.—Heermann, J. A. N. Sc. Phila. 2d ser. II, 1853, 269.—Cassin, Ill. N. Am. Birds, I, V, 1854, 141, pl. xxii.—Gould, Mon. Trochilidæ, XIV, Sept. 1857, plate.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 133, pl. xliv, f. 3.—Ib. M. B. II, Birds, 6, pl. v, f. 3.—Heerm. X, S, 56.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 353.
Sp. Char. Very similar to Trochilus colubris. Tail slightly forked; the chin and upper part of the throat opaque velvety-black, without metallic reflections, which are confined to the posterior border of the gorget, and are violet, sometimes changing to steel blue or green, instead of coppery-red. Female without the metallic scales; the tail-feathers tipped with white; the tail graduated, not emarginated; the innermost feather among the longest. Length of male, 3.30; wing, 1.70; tail, 126; bill, .75.
Hab. Coast of California, southward, and east to the Wahsatch and Uintah Mountains, Utah.
♂ juv. Trochilus alexandri. 4963 ♀
The chief characters of this species are to be found in the violet, steel-blue, or steel-green reflections of the hinder part of the gorget, varying with the situation of the feathers and the specimen, as distinguished from the bright fiery or coppery red of the other. The chin and upper part of the throat extending beneath the eyes are opaque velvety or greenish black, without metallic lustre, while in T. colubris it is only the extreme chin which is thus dull in appearance. The bill is about .10 of an inch longer, the tail less deeply forked, and tinged with green at the end.
Trochilus alexandri.
It is exceedingly difficult to distinguish the female of this species from that of T. colubris. The size is rather larger, and the tail rounded, without any distinct emargination; the middle feathers being .15 of an inch longer than the lateral ones, instead of actually shorter. The color is much the same. The primaries are also much broader in the present species.
In both species the outer tail-feathers, though broader than in the male, are quite acutely pointed on the terminal third, one side or the other of which is slightly concave, instead of being linear to near the end, and rounded without any concavity, as in Selasphorus and Calypte.
Habits. This Humming-Bird, originally described as a Mexican species, is found from the highlands of that republic northward, not only to the southern borders of the western United States, but as far north as the 58th parallel. It was first discovered on the table-lands of Mexico, east of the city, by Signor Floresi, a distinguished naturalist, who devoted himself to the study of the Trochilidæ of Mexico, but was first added to the fauna of North America by Dr. Heermann, who detected it, and obtained several specimens, within the burying-ground of Sacramento City, Cal. There several pairs remained during the period of incubation, and reared their young, finding both food and shelter among the flowering plants of that cemetery. He found several of their nests which were essentially similar to the T. colubris.
Dr. Cooper met with this species along the Mohave River. He saw the first on the 3d of June. He also found one of their nests built in a dark willow-thicket in the fork of a tree, eight feet from the ground. Those afterwards found near Santa Barbara were all built near the end of hanging branches of the sycamore, constructed of white down from willow catkins, agglutinated by the bird’s saliva, and thus fastened to the branch on which it rested. These were built in the latter part of April, and early in May
contained two eggs, exactly resembling those of the T. colubris, and measuring .51 by .32 of an inch.
Afterwards Mr. W. W. Holden obtained a specimen in the Colorado Valley, March 20.
Mr. J. K. Lord, one of the English commissioners of the Northwestern Boundary Survey, met with this species near his camping-place on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains. This was near a lake, by the margin of which, with other trees, grew a number of the black birch. On these trees he found a sweet gummy sap exuding plentifully from splits in the bark, and on this sap hosts of insects, large and small, were regaling themselves. As the sap was very sticky, numbers of the smaller winged insects were trapped in it. Busily employed in picking off and devouring these captive insects were several very sombre-looking Humming-Birds, poising themselves over the flowers, and nipping off, as with delicate forceps, the imprisoned insects. Upon securing one of these birds, he ascertained that it belonged to this species. This was pretty satisfactory proof that they are insect-eaters. Not only on this occasion, but many times afterwards, Mr. Lord saw this bird pick the insects from the tree; and the stomachs of those he killed, on being opened, were filled with various kinds of winged insects. He found this bird lingering around lakes, pools, and swamps, where these birches grow. They generally build in the birch or alder, selecting the fork of a branch high up.
This species bears a very close resemblance in size, appearance, and markings, to the common eastern species, but is readily distinguishable by the difference in the color of the chin and the shape of the tail.
In the spring of 1851, on a trip to Sonora, Mexico, Dr. Heermann found these birds abundant in the arid country around Guaymas, where amid the scanty vegetation they had constructed their nests in the month of April. He also afterwards found them on Dry Creek and the Cosumnes River.
According to the observations of Mr. Ridgway, this species has quite an extended distribution in the West. He found it in varying abundance from the Sacramento Valley, in California, to the Wahsatch and Uintah Mountains in Utah.
At Sacramento it was more abundant than the C. anna, nesting in the door-yards and in gardens, but particularly in the thick copses of small oaks in the outskirts of the city. In the Great Basin it associated with the Selasphorus rufus in the western portion, and with S. platycercus to the eastward, nesting everywhere, from the lowest valleys to a height of eight or nine thousand feet in the mountains.
Calypte, Gould, Introd. Trochilidæ, 1861, 87. (Type, Ornysmya costæ.)
Calypte costæ.
39399 ♂ 39400 ♀
Calypte costæ.
Gen. Char. Bill longer than the head, straight or slightly curved; tail rather short. Outer primary not attenuated at end. Top of head, as well as throat, with metallic scale-like feathers, a decided and elongated ruff on each side the neck.
The metallic feathers on top of head, the attenuated outer tail-feathers (except in C. helenæ), and the elongated ruff, distinguish the males of this genus very readily from any other in North America.
Species.
A. No rufous on tail-feathers; tail forked or emarginated.
a. Lateral tail-feather as broad as the others; tail emarginated. Rump and middle tail-feathers blue.
C. helenæ. Very small (wing, 1.15); metallic hood and ruff of the male purplish-red. Hab. Cuba.
b. Lateral tail-feather abruptly narrower than the others, tail forked. Rump and middle tail-feathers green.
C. anna. Large (wing, 2.00); outer tail-feather with a double curve, the end inclining outward. Metallic hood and ruff of the male purplish-red. Hab. California.
C. costæ. Small (wing, 1.75); outer tail-feather with a simple curve, the end inclining inward. Metallic hood and ruff of the male violet-blue. Hab. Southern California, Arizona, and Mexico.
B. Inner webs of tail-feathers mostly rufous, and outer webs edged with the same. Tail rounded. Lateral tail-feather abruptly narrower than the others.
C. floresi.[115] Size of C. anna. Hood and ruff of the male crimson. Hab. Table-lands of Mexico (Bolanos).
ANNA HUMMING-BIRD.
Ornismya anna, Lesson, Oiseaux Mouches, 1830, (? pl. cxxiv. Trochilus anna, Jardine, Nat. Lib. Humming-Birds, I, 93, pl. vi.—Aud. Orn. Biog. V, 1839, 428, pl. ccccxxviii.—Ib. Birds America, IV, 1842, 188, pl. cclii.—Heerm. X, S, 56 (nest). Calliphlox anna, Gambel, Pr. A. N. Sc. Phil. III, 1846, 3.—Ib. Journ. 2d ser. I, 1847, 32. Trochilus (Atthis) anna, Reichenbach, Cab. Jour. Extraheft for 1853, 1854, App. 12. Trochilus icterocephalus, Nuttall, Man. I, (2d ed.,) 1840, 712 (male with forehead covered with yellow pollen). Atthis anna, Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 137. Calypte annæ, Gould, Introd. Trochilidæ.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 358.
Calypte anna.
5501 ♂ 44953 ♀
Sp. Char. Largest of North American species of Humming-Bird. Tail deeply forked; external feather narrow, linear. Top of the head, throat, and a moderate ruff, metallic crimson-red, with purple reflections. Rest of upper parts and a band across the breast green. Tail-feathers purplish-brown, darkest centrally. In the female the tail is slightly rounded, not emarginate; the scales of the head and throat are wanting. Tail barred with black, and tipped with white. Length, about 3.60; wing, 2.00; tail, 1.45.
Hab. Mexico and coast region of California.
Calypte anna.
The C. floresi of the table-lands of Mexico resembles this species in every respect except the tail, which is somewhat like that of Selasphorus rufus. The only North American species to which the male of this bird bears any resemblance is the A. costæ, which has the same metallic crown and other generic features. The latter, however, is much smaller; has the metallic reflections varied, chiefly violet, instead of nearly uniform purplish-red. The tail is much less deeply forked, the depth being only about .10 of an inch, instead of .32; the outer feather is much narrower. The females of the two, however, appear to be distinguishable only by their relative size. The absence of rufous, and the rounded, not graduated, tail always separates the female of anna from that of Selasphorus rufus. The larger size is the chief distinction from the female Calypte costæ, while the size and less acutely pointed outer tail-feathers distinguish it from the female Trochilus colubris.
We have never seen any specimens of this bird taken out of California, nor quoted of late years as occurring in Mexico, although stated by Gould to belong to the table-lands.
Habits. This beautiful Humming-Bird is found from the high table-lands of Mexico throughout the western portions of that region, and through
all the coast country of California, from the slopes of the Sierra to the ocean. It was first taken in Mexico, and named in honor of Anna, Duchess of Rivoli. Mr. Nuttall was the first of our own naturalists to take it within our territory. He captured a female on its nest near Santa Barbara. This was described and figured by Audubon. The nest was attached to a small burnt twig of Photinia, and was small for the bird, being only 1.25 inches in breadth. It was somewhat conic in shape, made of the down of willow catkins, intermixed with their scales, and a few feathers, the latter forming the lining. It had none of the neatness of the nests of our common species, and was so rough on the outside that Mr. Nuttall waited several days in expectation of its being completed, and found the female sitting on two eggs when he caught her. Dr. Cooper, however, thinks this description applies much better to the nest of T. alexandri, as all that he has seen of this species are twice as large, and covered externally with lichens, even when on branches not covered with these parasites.
Dr. Gambel, in his paper published in 1846 on the birds of California, describes this as a very abundant species, numbers of which pass the entire winter in California. At such times he found them inhabiting sheltered hillsides and plains, where, at all seasons, a few bushy plants were in flower and furnished them with a scanty subsistence. In the latter part of February and during March they appeared in greater numbers. About the Pueblo the vineyards and the gardens were their favorite resort, where they build a delicate downy nest in small flowering bushes, or in a concealed spot about a fence. In April and May they may be seen in almost every garden.
In the wilder portions of the country Dr. Gambel found them attaching their nest almost exclusively to low horizontal branches of the Quercus agrifolia, or evergreen oak, so common in that region. The nest he describes as small, only about an inch in depth, and 1.25 inches in diameter, formed in the most delicate manner of pappus and down of various plants matted into a soft felt, with spider’s-webs, which he frequently observed them collecting for the purpose, in the spring, along hedges and fence-rows. The base of the nest is formed of a few dried male aments of the oak, which, with the adjoining felt-like matting of pappus, are agglutinated and bound around the twig with a thick layer of spider’s-webs. The note of this bird, he states, is a slender chep, frequently repeated. During the breeding-season they are very pugnacious, darting like meteors among the trees, uttering a loud and repeated twittering scold. They also have the habit of ascending to a considerable height, and then of descending with great rapidity, uttering at the same time a peculiar cry. The glutinous pollen of a tubular flower upon which these birds feed often adheres to the rigid feathers of the crown, and causes the bird to seem to have a bright yellow head. Nuttall, who never obtained the male of this species, but saw them in this condition, supposed this to be a yellow spot in the crown, and hence his supposed species of icterocephalus.
In California, south of San Francisco, this species was also observed, by Dr. Cooper, to be a constant resident in mild winters, remaining among the foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada, at least fifteen hundred feet above the sea. There he has found them quite common in February. At that season flowers, and consequently insects, are more abundant than in the dry summers. The males are in fine plumage early in January.
Dr. Cooper states that the nests of this species are built at various heights and positions, often in gardens, and sometimes on dead branches, without any attempt at concealment except the outside covering of lichens. He has found them made almost wholly of mosses, with only a lining of feathers and down of plants. In the neighborhood of San Francisco the young are sometimes hatched as early as the middle of March. This species appears to be more hardy than the others, being common along the coast border, though Dr. Cooper saw none near the summits of the Sierra Nevada.
The notes of the male bird, he states, are like the sound produced by the filing of a saw or the whetting of a scythe. They enter familiarly into the city of San Francisco, and even venture into rooms, attracted by the flowers. They are bold and confident, approach to within a few feet of man, but at the least motion disappear like a flash.
Dr. Heermann found this species quite common at San Diego in March, and in its full spring plumage. In September he procured a number of specimens on a small island in the Cosumnes River. While on the wing in pursuit of insects, or after alighting on a small branch, he heard them utter a very weak twitter, continued for a minute or more.
A nest of this species from Petaluma is about 1.50 inches in diameter, and 1.00 in height, and bears no resemblance to the one described by Nuttall. It is made of a commingling of mosses and vegetable down, covered externally with a fine yellow lichen. The eggs measure .60 by .40 of an inch, and are about ten per cent larger than those of any other North American Humming-Bird.
Another nest of this Humming-Bird, obtained in Petaluma, Cal., by Mr. Emanuel Samuels, measures 1.75 inches in diameter, and about 1.00 in height. Its cavity is one inch in diameter at the rim, and half an inch in depth. Its lining is composed of such soft materials that its limits are not well defined. The base of the nest is made of feathers, mosses, and lichens of several varieties of the smaller kinds. The periphery and rim of the nest are of nearly the same materials. The inner fabric consists of a mass of a dirty-white vegetable wool, with a lining of the very finest and softest of feathers, intermingled with down from the seeds of some species of silkweed. The predominant lichen in the base and sides of the nest is the Ramalina menziesii, which is peculiar to California. The nest contained a single egg.
COSTA’S HUMMING-BIRD; RUFFED HUMMER.
Ornismya costæ, Bourcier, Rev. Zoöl. Oct. 1839, 294 (Lower California).—Ib. Ann. Sc. Phys. et d’Hist. Nat. de Lyon, 1840, 225, tab. ii.—Prevost & Des Murs, Voyage de la Venus, Zool. I, 1855, 194, Atlas, tab. ii, f. 1, 2. Selasphorus costæ, Bon. Conspectus Avium, I, 1850, 82. Atthis costæ, Reichenbach, Cab. Jour. für Orn. Extraheft, 1853, 1854.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 138, pl. xix.—Kennerly, P. R. R. x, b, 36, pl. xix. Calypte costæ, Gould, Mon. Humming-Birds.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 360.
Sp. Char. Tail very slightly emarginated and rounded; exterior feather very narrow, and linear. A very long ruff on each side of the throat. Head above and below, with the ruff, covered with metallic red, purple and violet (sometimes steel green). Remaining upper parts and sides of the body green. Throat under and between the ruffs, side of head behind the eye, anal region, and under tail-coverts whitish. Female with the tail rounded, scarcely emarginate; barred with black, and tipped with white. The metallic colors of the head wanting. Length, 3.20; wing, 1.75; tail, 1.10; bill, .68.
Hab. Mexico, Southern California, and the Colorado Basin, Monterey (Neboux). Arizona (Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 57).
Specimens vary considerably in the color of the ruff, which, however, is only occasionally green; violet being the prevailing shade. The length of this appendage varies considerably.
The female of this species differs much from the male in the absence of the metallic scales on the head and throat. It has a close resemblance to the female T. colubris, although the bill is smaller and narrower. The tail-feathers are narrower, more linear, and less acutely pointed at the tip. The black on the outer tail-feathers, instead of extending very nearly to the base, is confined to the terminal half, the basal portion being green. All the tail-feathers are terminated by white, although that on the fourth and fifth is very narrow. In T. colubris this color is confined to the three outer ones. The much smaller size will alone distinguish it from the female of C. anna.
Habits. This species is a Mexican bird, first discovered by Signor Floresi among the valleys of the Sierra Madre, in that country, throughout the western portions of which it is said to be an abundant species, as well as along our southern borders, whence it extends into New Mexico, the Colorado Valley, Southern California, and Arizona. It was first described by Bourcier in 1839, and named in honor of the Marquis de Costa, of Chambery.
Mr. Xantus found this species exceedingly abundant at Cape St. Lucas. It has also been found on the eastern coast of the Gulf of California, at Guaymas, and Mazatlan, and also on the table-lands of Mexico.
It was first added to our fauna by Dr. Kennerly, who obtained specimens near Bill Williams Fork, in New Mexico, February 9, 1854. At that early season a few flowers had already expanded beneath the genial rays of the sun, and around them the party rarely failed to find these beautiful birds.
They had already paired, and were constantly to be seen hovering over the flowers. Their notes consisted of a rapid chirping sound. As Dr. Kennerly’s party approached the coast of California, where the valleys abounded with flowers of every hue, these birds continued flitting before them in great numbers. Dr. Coues states that this species was not taken at Fort Whipple, though abundantly distributed throughout the Territory, particularly in its southern and southwestern portions, and found about fifty miles south of Prescott. It is presumed to winter within the Territory, and also within the valley of the Colorado. Dr. Cooper did not observe any at Fort Mohave until March 5, and they were not numerous afterwards. At San Diego, in 1862, when the spring was unusually backward, he saw none before April 22, and he has since met with them as far north as San Francisco, where, however, they are rare. The notes uttered by the male he compares to the highest and sharpest note that can be drawn from a violin. Nothing more is known as to their distinctive specific peculiarities.
Genus SELASPHORUS, Swainson.
Selasphorus, Swainson, F. B. A. II, 1831, 324. (Type, Trochilus rufus.)
Selasphorus rufus.
2896 ♂
As already stated, the characters of Selasphorus, as distinguished from Calypte (to which it is most nearly related, through the C. floresi), consist in the lack of metallic feathers on the crown, and in the attenuation of the outer primary, and the pointed and acuminate cuneate (instead of forked) tail.
As distinguished from Trochilus, the quills diminish gradually, instead of showing an abrupt transition between the fourth and fifth, so characteristic of the two species of Trochilus, as restricted. The very attenuated tip of the outer primary is a character entirely peculiar to Selasphorus.
The two North American species, though strictly congeneric, differ from each other considerably in details of form, as well as in color. They may be distinguished from each other and from their two Central American allies as follows:—
Species and Varieties.
A. Feathers of the metallic gorget not elongated laterally.
S. platycercus. Above continuous metallic green; tail-feathers merely edged with rufous. Gorget purplish-red.
Wing, 1.90; tail, 1.40; bill (from forehead), .66. Gorget rich solferino-purple, the feathers grayish-white beneath the surface. Outer primary with its attenuated tip turned outward. Hab. Rocky Mountains and Middle Province of United States, south to Guatemala … var. platycercus.
Wing, 1.65; tail, 1.20; bill, .41. Gorget dull velvety-crimson, the feathers ochraceous beneath the surface. Outer primary apparently with its attenuated tip curved inward. Hab. Costa Rica … var. flammula.[116]
B. Feathers of the metallic gorget much elongated laterally.
S. rufus. Above chiefly rufous, overlaid by green (except in S. scintilla, which is almost wholly green above); tail-feathers rufous with a shaft-streak of dusky. Gorget fiery red. Attenuated tip of outer primary curved inwards.
Wing, 1.60; tail, 1.30; bill, .65. Rufous prevailing above; gorget very brilliant. Hab. Western Province of North America, from East Humboldt Mountains to the Pacific. North to Sitka, south to Mirador … var. rufus.
Wing, 1.35; tail, 1.00 to 1.10; bill, .42. Continuous green above; gorget not brilliant, but with a dusty appearance. Tail less graduated. Hab. Costa Rica and Chiriqui … var. scintilla.[117]
Selasphorus rufus, Swainson.
RUFOUS-BACKED HUMMING-BIRD.
Trochilus rufus, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 497.—Aud. Orn. Biog. IV, 1838, 555, pl. ccclxxii. Selasphorus rufus, Swainson, F.-Bor. Am. II, 1831, 324.—Aud. Birds Am. IV, 1842, 200, pl. ccliv.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 134.—Cooper & Suckley, 164.—Dall & Bannister, Trans. Chicago Acad. I, 1869, 275 (Alaska).—Finsch, Abh. Nat. III, 1872, 29 (Alaska).—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 355. Trochilus collaris, Lath. (Bonaparte). Trochilus sitkensis, Rathke (Bonaparte). Ornysmia sasin, Lesson (Bonaparte).
Sp. Char. Tail strongly cuneate and wedge-shaped. Upper parts, lower tail-coverts, and breast cinnamon. A trace of metallic green on the crown, which sometimes extends over the back, never on the belly. Throat coppery red, with a well-developed ruff of the same; below this a white collar. Tail-feathers cinnamon, edged or streaked at the end with purplish-brown. Female with the rufous of the back covered or replaced with green; less cinnamon on the breast. Traces only of metallic feathers on the throat. Tail rufous, banded with black and tipped with white; middle feathers glossed with green at the end. Tail still cuneate. Length of male, 3.50; wing, 1.55; tail, 1.30.
Hab. West coast of North America, and across from Gulf of California to the Upper Rio Grande Valley, and along the table-lands of Mexico, south; in Middle Province east to East Humboldt Mountains.
Specimens from the table-lands of Mexico are smaller than those from Oregon, and have yellower, less ruby throats.
Selasphorus rufus.
Habits. This brilliant species has an extended distribution throughout the western part of North America, being found from the valley of the Rio Grande to the Pacific, and from Mexico to Sitka. It was first discovered near Nootka Sound, by that distinguished navigator, Captain Cook, and described by Latham, and has been met with as far to the south as Real del Monte, on the table-lands of Mexico, by Mr. Taylor, whose specimens were described by Mr. Swainson.
Dr. Coues found it very abundant at Arizona, near Fort Whipple, as it is also along the whole slope of the Rocky Mountains. It is a summer resident in that Territory, and breeds there abundantly, arriving at Fort Whipple April 10, and remaining until the middle of September, being found in all situations, particularly meadows, open copses, ravines, etc., where flowers are most abundant.
Mr. Dall gives them as common summer residents at Sitka. Bischoff obtained sixteen specimens. Dr. Suckley says they are very abundant in the western provinces of both Oregon and Washington Territory, and in Vancouver Island. They appear to be very hardy, and are one of the earliest of the migratory birds to arrive in spring. At Fort Steilacoom, latitude 47°, they appeared April 10. They are supposed to commence their southern migrations from that region in September,—a move induced by the scarcity of flowers and lack of means of captivating insects, rather than by cold. In Washington Territory their incubation commences about the 10th of May, and is made evident by the fierce and angry battles continually occurring between the male birds, in which they tilt at each other at full speed, at the same time keeping up a loud and vociferous squeaking and buzzing.
A nest with eggs, of this species, obtained by Dr. Cooper near Fort Slaughter, May 23, was found in the forked branch of a snowberry-bush. It was composed principally of fine green moss, lined internally with the delicate floss of the cottonwood, and externally bordered most artistically with rock lichens. The female was on the nest, and allowed so near an approach as almost to admit of being grasped by the hand. The nest was 2.00 inches in diameter and 1.50 in height. The eggs measured .45 by .33 of an inch, and were white, as in all the species.
Dr. Cooper states that the appearance of this species at the Straits of Fuca is coincident with the blossoming of the red-flowering currant, which begins to bloom on the Columbia March 10. The male of this species has a remarkable habit, when a stranger or a wild animal approaches its nest, of rising to a great height in the air, and of then darting down perpendicularly
upon the intruder, producing a hollow rushing sound, like that of the Night-Hawk, but of a much sharper tone. These sounds are produced by the wings. In July, when flowers are more abundant among the mountain summits, they leave the lower country. Dr. Cooper found them abundant in August at an elevation of nearly six thousand feet, and where ice was formed at night in their camp.
In California, Dr. Cooper has not found any of this species remaining in winter, even at San Diego, where, however, he has known them to arrive as early as the 5th of February. He also saw several on the 22d of the same month feeding among the flowers of the evergreen gooseberry. By the first of April they were swarming about San Diego. Their young are hatched before the middle of June. When perching, this species is said to utter a shrill wiry call, like the highest note of a violin. They also produce a curious kind of bleating sound. They are among the most noisy and lively of their race, are very quarrelsome, chase each other away from favorite flowers, rising into the air until out of sight, chirping as they go in the most excited manner.
Mr. Lord noticed the arrival of this species at Little Spokan River, in latitude 49°, early in May. He found their nests usually in low shrubs and close to rippling streams. The females of this and other species are said to arrive about a week later than the males.
Dr. Heermann for several successive seasons found many pairs of these birds breeding in the vicinity of San Francisco.
Mr. Nuttall compares the appearance of the male birds of this species, when he approached too near their nests, to an angry coal of brilliant fire, as they darted upon him, passing within a few inches of his face as they returned again and again to the attack, making a sound as of a breaking twig.
Dr. Woodhouse, who found this bird abundant in New Mexico, particularly in the vicinity of Santa Fé, speaks of the great noise they make for so small a bird, and of their quarrelsome and pugnacious disposition.
Mr. R. Brown, in his synopsis of the birds of Vancouver Island, notes the appearance of this species, from the end of March to the beginning of May, according to the state of the season. Its nest was built on the tips of low bushes, or the under branches of trees. This was the only species of Humming-Bird seen west of the Cascade Mountains.
The Rufous Hummer was first noticed by Mr. Ridgway in the valley of the Truckee River, in August, where it was the only species shot, and was extremely abundant among the sunflowers which ornament the meadows. In May of the succeeding year, when the same locality was again visited, not one of this species was to be found, its place being apparently supplied by the T. alexandri, which was quite common, and breeding. Eastward it was met with as far as the East Humboldt Mountains, where, however, only a single pair was seen, and one of them shot, in September.
Selasphorus platycercus, Gould.
BROAD-TAILED HUMMING-BIRD.
Trochilus platycercus, Sw. Philos. Mag. I, 1827, 441 (Mexico). Selasphorus platycercus, Gould, Mon. Trochilid. or Humming-Birds, III, May, 1852.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 135, pl. xliii, figs. 1 and 2.—Cooper, Pr. Cal. Ac. 1868 (Lake Tahoe).—Ib. Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 357. Ornismia tricolor, Lesson, Colibris, 125 (no date) pl. xiv (Brazil).—Ib. Trochilide. 1831, 156, pl. lx (Mexico).—Jardine, Nat. Lib. II, 77, pl. xiii. Ornismya montana, Lesson, Trochilid. 1831, 161, pl. lxiii, adult, and 163; pl. lxiv, young (Mexico).
Selasphorus platycercus.
10847 ♂ 10750 ♀
Sp. Char. Outer primaries greatly attenuated at the end and turned outward. Outer tail-feathers nearly linear, but widening a little from the base; its width .20 of an inch. Tail slightly graduated and emarginate. Male above and on the sides metallic green; chin and throat light reddish-purple, behind which, and along the belly to the tail, is a good deal of white. Wings and tail dusky purplish; the tail-feathers, excepting the internal and external ones, edged towards the base with light cinnamon. Female without the metallic gorget; the throat-feathers with dusky centres. The tail somewhat cuneate, as in the male, the feathers less pointed; the outer three cinnamon-rufous at base (this extending somewhat along the outer edges), then black, and broadly tipped with white (much as in the male Atthis heloisa), the inner two feathers green, the fourth with black spot at end, and only edged at base with rufous. The sides and crissum also tinged with cinnamon. Length, 3.50; wing, 1.92; tail, 1.40. Bill, gape, .80.
Hab. Table-lands of Mexico and Rocky Mountains, and Middle Province of United States, north to Wyoming Territory. Uintah, Wahsatch, and East Humboldt Mountains (Ridgway); Sierra Nevada (Cooper); Cordova (Scl. P. Z. S. 1856, 288); Guatemala (Scl. Ibis, I, 129); Arizona (Coues, P. A. N. S. 1866, 57).
A decided character of this species among its North American relatives is the rufous outer border of the exterior tail-feathers. This rufous in S. rufus pervades most of the feathers, instead of being restricted as above. Females of the two species are not dissimilar: those of S. platycercus are larger, less rufous beneath; the tail-feathers broader and less pointed, and with the inner two (on each side) entirely green to base (the fourth edged with rufous), instead of being principally rufous, except at tip.
Specimens from Mirador, Mexico, are undistinguishable from those of Fort Bridger; those from Guatemala are smaller than the Mexican.
Habits. Until recently this Humming-Bird has been presumed to be an exclusively Mexican and Central American species. Until taken within our limits, it had been supposed to be confined on the north to the Mexican plateau,
westward to the city, and thence southward to Guatemala, while throughout this region it is said to be very generally and very plentifully distributed. It was first taken, in 1851, by Mr. J. H. Clark, near El Paso, Texas. Subsequently numerous specimens were seen by Dr. Coues on the summit of Whipple’s Pass of the Rocky Mountains, in July, feeding among clumps of wild roses. It was not noticed near Fort Whipple, though the range of this species is now well known to include New Mexico and Arizona, as far north, at least, as Fort Bridger in Wyoming. It was found breeding abundantly in the vicinity of Fort Grant, Arizona, by Dr. Palmer.
This Humming-Bird was found by Mr. Allen more or less common among the foot-hills, as well as among the mountains, of Colorado, and extending several miles out on the plains. On Mount Lincoln, in Colorado, he found it exceedingly numerous, and though larger and otherwise different from the eastern Ruby-throat, it might easily be mistaken for it. The shrill whistling of its wings, he adds, is a peculiarity one is sure to notice. This Humming-Bird continued to be common on the sides of Mount Lincoln to far above the timber line, being apparently as much at home among the bright flowers growing on the highest parts of the mountain as in the valleys.
At Lake Tahoe, at an elevation of six thousand feet, Dr. Cooper found the young of this species quite common near the middle of September. Supposing them to be the more common S. rufus, he only obtained a single specimen. He thinks that these birds extend their northern migrations as far as the Blue Mountains, near Snake River, Oregon, and that they are the ones referred to by Nuttall as seen by him in autumn, and supposed to be the rufus.
The nests of this species procured by Dr. Palmer were large for the size of the bird, unusually broad and shallow, composed of soft downy pappus from seeds of plants, and vegetable down, with the outer walls covered with mosses and lichens. The eggs are not distinguishable from those of the other species.
The Rocky Mountain or Broad-tailed Hummer, according to Mr. Ridgway’s observations, is the most abundant species in the Great Basin, though he did not see it to recognize it west of the East Humboldt Mountains. It is essentially a bird of the mountains, since in that region there are few flowers elsewhere; yet in the gardens of Salt Lake City, an altitude far below its usual habitat, it was abundant. Its favorite resorts are the flowery slopes of the higher and well-watered mountain-ranges of the Great Basin and Rocky Mountain system, at an average elevation of about eight or nine thousand feet, yet it will be found wherever flowers are abundant. Mr. Ridgway saw one at an altitude of about twelve thousand feet, in July, on the East Humboldt Mountains, but it merely passed rapidly by him. In the Wahsatch Mountains, particularly in the neighborhood of Salt Lake City, this species was most plentiful. It there nested abundantly in the scrub-oaks on the hills or slopes of the cañons.
The male bird is very pugnacious, and was observed to attack and drive away an Accipiter fuscus, the Hawk retreating as rapidly as possible. When the nest is approached, the male often rises high into the air and then sweeps down almost to the head of the intruder, its swift descent being accompanied by a very peculiar shrill, screeching buzz, of an extraordinary degree of loudness to be produced by so small a creature. The same sound Mr. Ridgway noticed when the bird was passing overhead, in a manner not observed in any other species, its horizontal flight being by a peculiar undulating course. The shrill noise made by the male of this species he suggests may be caused by the curious attenuated and stiffened outer primary. He noticed a curious piece of ingenuity in nest-making on the part of this species. The nest in question was fastened upon a dead twig of a small cottonwood-tree; the loosening bark, which probably had separated after the nest was finished, had allowed the nest to turn around so as to hang beneath the branch, thus spilling the eggs upon the ground. The owners, however, built another nest upon the top of the branch, fastening its sides to that of the old one, and making the new nest lighter and less bulky, so that the weight of the older nest kept the other in a permanently upright position.
Genus ATTHIS, Reichenbach.
Atthis, Reich. Cab. Jour. f. Orn. extraheft für 1853, 1854. Appendix B. (Type, Ornysmya heloisa, Lesson, Del.)
Atthis heloisa.
25874 ♂ 24618 ♀
Gen. Char. Size very diminutive; bill short, scarcely longer than the head. Outer primary attenuated nearly as in Selasphorus; the tail graduated, the feathers, however, not lanceolate-acute, but rounded at end, and tipped with white in the male.
This genus seems closely related to Selasphorus, agreeing in character of throat, the curious attenuation of outer primary, and the general shape of the tail, with its rufous base and edging. The feathers, however, are not lanceolate and pointed, either sharply as in S. rufus, or obtusely as in platycercus, but are more equal to near the end, where they round off. The white tip of the tail in the male seems to be the principal reason why Mr. Gould removes the single species from Selasphorus, where it was previously placed by him, and where perhaps it might have not inappropriately remained.
HELOISA’S HUMMING-BIRD.
Ornysmya heloisa, Lesson & Delattre, Rev. Zoöl. 1838, 15 (Xalapa). Mellisuga heloisa, Gray & Mitchell, Gen. Birds, I, 113. Tryphæna heloisa, Bonap. Consp. Troch. Rev. Mag. Zoöl. 1854, 257. Selasphorus heloisæ, Gould, Mon. Trochil. III, pl. cxli. Atthis heloisæ, Reich. Cab. Jour. extraheft, 1853, App. 12.—Gould, Introd. Trochil. 1861, 89.—Elliot, Illust. Birds N. Am. I, xxi, XII, plate.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 361.
Sp. Char. Male. Above metallic green with golden reflections; beneath white; the sides of breast glossed with green; the flanks with rufous, which tinges the crissum very faintly; gorget brilliant violet or light purplish-red, bordered behind by clear white. All the tail-feathers rufous-cinnamon for basal half; the three outer black centrally and tipped with white (mixed with reddish on the third); the fourth green, centrally tipped with black; the central entirely green for the exposed portion, perhaps glossed with blackish at the end. Length, 2.70; wing, 1.35; tail, 1.00; exposed part of bill above, .45. Female. Outer primary not attenuated. Colors similar to male, wanting the metallic gorget; the feathers spotted with dusky; crissum and flanks more rufous; innermost tail-feathers entirely green; other feathers as in male, but with the central black encroaching on the basal rufous; third and fourth feathers tipped with reddish-white.
Hab. Southern New Mexico and Texas, to Guatemala.
The introduction of this species into the fauna of the United States is based on a female specimen collected by Mr. J. H. Clark at El Paso, Texas, and for a time supposed to be Selasphorus rufus, but after a careful examination by Mr. Lawrence, pronounced to belong to this species. Its range is southward along the highlands to Guatemala.
The species is very much like Selasphorus in shape, and hardly differs more than S. rufus and platycercus do from each other. The male is easily distinguished from its allies; the females are closely related to those of rufus, differing in much shorter bill (.55 to .65), much less rufous on the more nearly even tail, with broader feathers, etc.
Habits. This species claims a place within the fauna of North America, probably only as an accidental visitor, on the ground of a single specimen,—a female, taken by Mr. J. H. Clark at El Paso, Texas. It was at first mistaken for Selasphorus rufus. It is a Mexican and Central American species, ranging throughout the highlands at least as far to the south as Guatemala, where it was taken by Mr. Salvin.
It was first discovered on the highlands of Mexico by Mr. Delattre, who procured his specimens between Jalapa and Quatepu. It is crepuscular in its habits, collecting its food only in the morning or in the evening. Mr. Delattre states that the male bird is known to rise very early in the morning, and is never seen in quest of food later than nine in the forenoon. It very seldom goes to any distance from its mate or young, seeming to prefer to frequent the flowers in the edge of forests, but does not disdain those of the open fields. Mr. Salvin received specimens of this species taken in a
place called Chimachoyo near Calderas, in the Volcan de Fuego, and other specimens taken in the tierra caliente, near Coban, showing that, like many other species, it is found in very different climates.
Genus HELIOPÆDICA, Gould.
Heliopædica, Gould, Mon. Trochilidæ, II, Introd. Trochil. 1861, 60. (Type, Trochilus melanotus, Swainson.)
Heliopædica xantusi.
17767 ♂ 16935 ♀
Gen. Char. Bill longer than head, depressed, broad at its exposed base; the frontal feathers not advancing forward beyond the beginning of the nostrils, nor so far as those of the chin. Hind toe shorter than the lateral, tarsi feathered; outer primary not attenuated. Tail nearly even, slightly rounded and emarginate, the feathers broad, the webs nearly even. Metallic feathers of throat not elongated. Female quite similar in form.
This genus is quite peculiar among those of North America in the exposure of the base of bill, which is entirely bare between the lengthened nostrils, instead of covered by the frontal feathers. This makes the bill appear very broad, although it really is more so than in the other genera. The feathers on the chin extend considerably beyond those of the forehead, instead of to about the same line. The tail and its feathers are much broader than in the other genera.
The two known species of this genus may be distinguished by the following characters:—
Common Characters. Above metallic green; tail plain black or chestnut, glossed with green, and without white in either sex. A conspicuous white post-ocular stripe, and a blackish auricular one beneath it; beneath with more or less green. ♂. Forehead, chin, and side of head deep black or metallic dark blue; throat and jugulum brilliant green. ♀. Front dull brownish-green; chin, throat, and jugulum white or ochraceous, with or without a green gloss.
H. melanotis.[118] Male. Belly white, glossed with green; tail black beneath; base of bill, all round, brilliant blue; white cheek-stripe beginning back of the eye. Female. Beneath white glossed with green; tail bluish-black. Hab. Guatemala and table-lands of Mexico.
H. xantusi. Male. Belly cinnamon; tail beneath purplish-cinnamon; chin black; white cheek-stripe beginning at the bill. Female. Beneath plain pale rufous; tail deep rufous. Hab. Cape St. Lucas.
Heliopædica xantusi, Lawrence.
XANTUS’S HUMMING-BIRD.
Amazilia xantusi, Lawrence, Ann. N. Y. Lyc. VII, April, 1860, 109. Heliopædica xantusi, Gould, Mon. Troch. II, pl. lxv.—Ib. Introd. Troch. 61.—Elliot, Ill. Birds N. Am. XI, plate.—Cooper, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 365. Heliopædica castaneocauda, Lawrence, Ann. N. Y. Lyc. 1860, 145 (female).—Elliot, Illust. Birds N. Am. I, xxii.
Heliopædica xantusi.
Sp. Char. Male. Above metallic green; the forehead, cheeks, and chin velvety black (the former with a deep blue gloss). A distinct white stripe from bill, through and behind the eye. Throat and forepart of breast brilliant metallic green; rest of under parts cinnamon-rufous; all the tail-feathers purplish-rufous,—the central glossed with green above, near the edges, the others obscurely edged with blackish along ends. Bill red at base, black at end. Length, 3.50; wing, 2.10; tail, 1.40; exposed portion of bill above, .65. Female. Forehead and all under parts light cinnamon beneath, without any green, or any dusky specks on throat; white cheek-stripe appreciable, but tinged with rufous. Tail as in male, but the central feathers entirely green above, the other, except the outer, with a dusky greenish or purplish spot on each web near the end. Whole upper mandible apparently dusky; base of lower, red.
Hab. Cape St. Lucas.
This well-marked and interesting species we owe to Mr. Xantus, together with many other birds of the west coast. It is sufficiently distinct to require no comparison other than that given under the general head; it can be separated from H. melanotis in all stages of plumage by the rufous tail.
Specimens vary sometimes in the intensity of the rufous shade, and, as stated, it is probable that the forehead, instead of being black, in full plumage is deep blue, as in melanotis.
Habits. This is a new and well-marked species, and although belonging to the North American fauna cannot be claimed for the United States, having thus far been only taken at Cape St. Lucas by Mr. Xantus, and described by Mr. Lawrence in 1860. Nothing is known as to its specific habits.
Gen. Char. Very similar in general form to Heliopædica, but the tail emarginated, instead of rounded, the feathers narrower and less rounded at the ends. The coloration quite different. Sexes alike, in all the species. Color nearly uniform green, with the anal region white, the wings and tail dusky. Many species with the whole lower parts, except laterally, pure white. One species (T. chionurus) with the tail white, except the ends of the feathers and the intermediæ.
The species are all of rather small size and rather plain appearance, from the uniformity of their green, or green and white, coloring. They belong to northern South America, and to Central America north to Guatemala.
The genus is included in the North American fauna solely upon the accidental occurrence of one species (T. linnæi) in Eastern Massachusetts.
Thaumatias linnæi, Bonap.
LINNÆUS’S EMERALD.
Thaumatias linnæi, Bonap. Rev. et Mag. de Zoöl. 1854, 255. Thaumatias l. Gould, Monog. Trochilid. pl. ? Trochilus tobaci, Gmel. Syst. Nat. I, 498. ? Trochilus tobagensis, Lath. Ind. Orn. I, 316. ? Trochilus tobago, Shaw, Gen. Zoöl. viii, 350. Ornismya viridissima, Less. Hist. Nat. 257, pl. lxxv. ? L’Oiseau-mouche à poitrine verte (Trochilus maculatus), Aud. et Vieill. Ois. Dor. tom. I, 87, pl. xliv. Argyrtria maculata, Maynard, Birds E. Mass. 1870, 128 (Cambridge, Mass.!).
Sp. Char. Continuous green, darker above, more brilliant, and of an emerald tint on the throat and jugulum; crissum, anal region, and middle of the abdomen, white. Primaries plain dusky. Tail blackish, with a faint reflection of dark blue subterminally, and of dull green basally, the lateral feathers obscurely tipped with dull dark ashy. Sexes alike. Wing, about 2.00; bill, .70.
Hab. Northern Brazil, Guiana, Tobago, and Bogota (Gould)?? Accidental in the eastern United States (Cambridge, Mass., Maynard).
This race much resembles the T. albiventris, (Reichenb.) Bonap. (Gould, Monog. Troch., Vol. V, p. ccci), of Brazil, but is said to be smaller and with less white on the abdomen and the under tail-coverts tinged with gray.
Habits. The single specimen of this Humming-Bird, referred to by both Mr. Maynard and Mr. Allen[119] as having been taken in Massachusetts, is said to have been shot by Mr. William Brewster in the summer of 1868, in Cambridge, near Mount Auburn. It was secured by accident, and was presumed to be, when taken, a female specimen of Trochilus colubris. It was sent to Mr. Vickary, of Lynn, to be mounted, and the question has been raised if by chance a South American bird may not have been substituted for the original. This, however, Mr. Vickary is positive could not have happened. Nothing distinctive was observed as to its habits. In view, however, of the possibility of an error, the propriety of including it in our fauna is very questionable.
The three families next in order are those generally known as the Zygodactyli, in their more restricted sense, that is, having the toes arranged in pairs, two before and two behind. In the present case the anterior toes are the inner and the middle (the second and third), the posterior being the hinder and outer (the first and fourth); where, as is sometimes the case, a hind toe is wanting, it is the first, or the hind toe proper.
By this definition we exclude the Trogonidæ, the Bucconidæ, and the Galbuilidæ, which likewise have the toes in pairs, but in which they are differently combined.
The North American families, the Cuculidæ, the Picidæ, and the Psittacidæ, are defined as follows:—
A. Upper mandible not movable nor hinged. Tarsus with transverse scutellæ. Bill without a naked skin, or cere, at the base; lower mandible much longer than deep, the end not truncated.
a. Tongue short, and not extensible; not barbed at the point.
Bill hooked or curved at tip; not constructed for hammering. No nasal tufts … Cuculidæ.
b. Tongue long and cylindrical, and generally capable of great extension; barbed at the point.
Bill not hooked, but nearly straight; strong, and constructed for hammering. Thick nasal tufts at base of the bill (except in the Nudinares) … Picidæ.
B. Upper mandible movable or hinged. Tarsus without transverse scutellæ. Bill with a naked skin, or cere, at the base; lower mandible not longer than deep, its end truncated.
c. Tongue short and thick, fleshy.
Bill enormously large, much curved, the upper mandible hooked, both much arched … Psittacidæ.