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 432--433--434. 432. Broad-tailed Hummingbird. Selasphorus platycercus. Range.--Rocky Mountain regions, north to Wyoming; winters south of the United States. This species is similar to the Ruby-throat, but larger and with the back more golden green color, and the throat shining lilac. They are very abundant in Colorado and Arizona, nesting as do the Ruby-throats in the east, and their nests being similar in construction and appearance to those of that species. The eggs cannot be distinguished from those of other species. 433. Rufous Hummingbird. Selasphorus rufus. Range.--Western North America, breeding from the Mexican border north to Alaska and fairly abundant in most of its range. A handsome little species with the back and tail reddish brown, and with a throat gorget of orange red, the feathers being slightly lengthened into a ruff on the side of the gorget. They nest in a great variety of locations and at a low elevation, such as vines, bushes and the low hanging branches of trees. The nest is made of vegetable fibres covered with cobwebs and often with lichens. The eggs do not differ from those of the other Hummers.
Page 277 434. Allen's Hummingbird. Selasphorus alleni. Range.--Pacific coast from British Columbia southward; most abundant in California. Winters in Mexico. This species is like the last, but the back is greenish, only the tail being reddish brown. These birds generally locate their nests at low elevations near the end of overhanging branches, on vines, weed stalks, or bushes, but have been found as high as 90 feet above ground. The nests of this species are made of plant fibres and cobwebs, generally decorated with lichens. The two white eggs measure .50 × .32. Data.--Santa Monica, Cal., May 29, 1896. Nest two feet from the ground in a sage bush. Collector, W. Lee Chambers.
ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD.




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 436--437--438. 435. Morcom's Hummingbird. Atthis morcomi. Range.--This species is known only from a single specimen, taken in the Huachuca Mountains, Arizona, in 1896. 436. Calliope Hummingbird. Stellula calliope. Range.--Western United States from British Columbia southward, and from the Rocky Mountains west to eastern Oregon and California. This is the smallest of North American Hummers, being but 3 inches in length. It is greenish above and has a violet gorget showing the white bases of the feathers. They build their nests in all manner of locations from high up in tall pines to within a foot of the ground in slender bushes. The nests are made interiorly with plant down, but the outside is generally grayish colored shreds and lichens. The eggs average but a trifle smaller than those of colubris, .45 × .30. 437. Lucifer's Hummingbird. Calothorax lucifer. Range.--Mexico, north to southwestern Texas and Arizona. This species, which is common in parts of Central Mexico, occurs only casually north to our borders and has not yet been found nesting there. They build small compact nests of plant down attached to the stalks or leaves of plants or weeds. 438. Reiffer's Hummingbird. Amizilis tzacatl. Range.--Abundant in southern Mexico; casual in southern Texas. This species is greenish above, with a bronzy lustre; the tail is reddish brown, and the throat and breast are metallic green. They breed abundantly about houses and nest apparently at all seasons of the year in Central America, where they are the most common species of Hummers.
Page 279 439--440.1--441. 439. Buff-bellied Hummingbird. Amizilis cerviniventris chalconota. Range.--Lower Rio Grande Valley in Texas and southward through Mexico. These birds are like the last but have the underparts a pale brownish buff color. They are quite common in their summer range in the United States, nesting at a low elevation in bushes and low trees. The two eggs are white, .50 × .35. Data.--Brownsville, Texas, May 5, 1892. Nest of fine bark-like fibre on the outside, lined with lint from thistle plant; located on limb of small hackberry. Collector, Frank G. Armstrong. 440. Xantus' Hummingbird. Basilinna xantusi. Range.--Southern Lower California. A handsome species, greenish above, with a coppery tinge and shading into reddish brown on the tail; under parts buffy, throat metallic green, and a broad white streak behind the eye. They breed on the ranges making a similar nest to those of other Hummers, placed on weeds or bushes near the ground. The eggs cannot be distinguished from those of the majority of other species. 440.1. White-eared Hummingbird. Basilinna leucotis. Range.--A Central American and Mexican species, casually found on the ranges in Southern Arizona. The plumage of this species is greenish above and below, being metallic green on the breast; the forehead, sides of head, and throat are iridescent blue and a white line extends back from the eye. 441. Broad-billed Hummingbird. Cynanthus latirostris. Range.--Mountains of central Mexico north to southern Arizona and New Mexico. The throat of this species is a rich metallic blue; otherwise the plumage is greenish above and below, being brighter and more irisdescent on the breast. They are not uncommon on the ranges of southern Arizona, where they have been found nesting in July and August, their nest not being unlike those of the Rufous Hummer, but with the exterior largely composed of shreds of grayish bark and lichens. Their eggs are like many others of the Hummers.




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 PERCHING BIRDS. Order XVII. PASSERES COTINGAS. Family COTINGIDAE 441.1. Xantus Becard. Platypsaris aglaiæ albiventris. Range.--Mexico; north casually to the southern border of Arizona. Buffy gray. This peculiar species is grayish above and lighter gray below, has dark slaty crown, and a patch of rose color on the lower throat. This is the only representative of this tropical family that has been found as yet over the Mexican border, but its near ally, the Rose-throated Becard has been found within a very few miles and will doubtless be added to our fauna as an accidental visitor ere long. Their nests are large masses of grasses, weeds, strips of bark, etc., partially suspended from the forks of branches. Their eggs number four or five and are a pale buffy gray color, dotted and scratched with a pale reddish brown and dark gray. Size .95 × .70. The one figured is from a set in the collection of Mr. Crandall, taken June 1, 1897 at Presidio Sinaloa, Mexico. FLYCATCHERS. Family TYRANNIDÆ Flycatchers, which are found only in America and chiefly in the tropics, are insect-eating birds, generally having a grayish colored plumage, sometimes adorned with a slight crest or a coronal mark of orange, red, or yellow. Only two of the species found in North America are gaudy in plumage, the Vermilion, and the Derby Flycatchers. They all have the habit of sitting erect on a dead twig, and watching for passing insects, which they catch on the wing. 442. Fork-tailed Flycatcher. Muscivora tryannus. Range.--A Central and South American species accidentally having occurred in the United States on several occasions. This is a handsome black, white and gray species of the size and form of the next.
Page 281 Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. 443. Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. Muscivora forficata. Range.--Mexico, north through Texas to southern Kansas; accidental in other parts of the country. Creamy white. The Scissor-tail or "Texan Bird of Paradise" is the most beautiful member of this interesting family. Including its long tail, often 10 inches in length and forked for about 6 inches, this Flycatcher reaches a length of about 15 inches. It is pale grayish above, fading into whitish below, and has scarlet linings to the wings, and a scarlet crown patch. They are one of the most abundant of the breeding birds in Texas, placing their large roughly built nests in all kinds of trees and at any elevation, but averaging between ten and fifteen feet above ground. The nests are built of rootlets, grasses, weeds and trash of all kinds, such as paper, rags, string, etc. The interior is generally lined with plant fibres, hair or wool. They lay from three to five, and rarely six eggs with a creamy white ground color, more or less spotted and blotched with reddish brown, lilac and gray, the markings generally being most numerous about the larger end. They average in size about .90 × .67. Data.--Corpus Christi, Texas, May 18, 1899. 6 eggs. Nest of moss, vines, etc., on small trees in open woods near town. Collector, Frank B. Armstrong. 444. Kingbird. Tyrannus tyrannus. Kingbird. Range.--Temperate North America, breeding from the Gulf of Mexico north to New Brunswick, Manitoba and British Columbia; rare off the Pacific coast. Cream color. This common Tyrant Flycatcher is very abundant in the eastern parts of its range. They are one of the most pugnacious and courageous of birds attacking and driving away any feathered creature to which they take a dislike, regardless of size. Before and during the nesting season, their sharp, nerve-racking clatter is kept up all day long, and with redoubled vigor when anyone approaches their nesting site. They nest in any kind of a tree, in fields or open woods, and at any height from the ground, being found on fence rails within two feet of the ground or in the tops of pines 70 or 80 feet above the earth. Nearly every orchard will be found to contain one or more pairs of these great insect




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 destroyers; if more than one pair, there will be continual warfare as often as one encroaches on the domains of the other. Their nests are made of strips of vegetable fibre, weeds, etc., and lined with horsehair or catkins. They are sometimes quite bulky and generally very substantially made. The three to five eggs are laid the latter part of May, and are of a creamy ground color splashed with reddish brown and lilac. Size .95 × .70. Data.--Worcester County, Massachusetts, June 3, 1895. 4 eggs. Nest 10 feet from the ground in an apple tree; made of fibres, string, rootlets and weeds, lined with horse hair. Collector, F. C. Clark.
NEST AND EGGS OF KINGBIRD.
Page 283 Gray Kingbird. 445. Gray Kingbird. Tyrannus dominicensis. Range.--West Indies; north in April to Florida and the South Atlantic States to South Carolina and casually farther. Creamy. This species is slightly larger than our Kingbird, (9 inches long), grayish instead of dark drab above, white below, and without any white tip to tail. Like the common Kingbird, it has a concealed orange patch on the crown. Their habits and nesting habits are the same as those of our common bird, but the nest is not generally as well built, and nearly always is made largely of twigs. The three or four eggs have a creamy or a creamy pink ground color, spotted and blotched with dark brown and lilac, most numerously about the large end. Size 1.00 × .73. Tarpon Springs, Florida, May 28, 1802. Nest of twigs and weeds in a low bush. Collector, J. A. Southley. Buff. 446. Couch's Kingbird. Tyrannus melancholicus couchi. Range.--Mexico, north in summer to southern Texas. This species is very similar to the next but the throat and breast are white, and the underparts a brighter yellow. Like the other members of this genus, these build their nests in any location in trees or bushes, making them of twigs, weeds and moss. Their three or four eggs have a creamy ground with a pinkish cast and are spotted with brown and lilac. Size .97 × .12. Arkansas Kingbird. 447. Arkansas Kingbird. Tyrannus verticalis. Range.--Western United States and southern British Provinces from Kansas and Minnesota west to the Pacific. This species has grayish upper parts, shading into darker on the wings and tail, and lighter on the throat and upper breast; the underparts are yellow, and there is a concealed patch of orange on the crown. They are very abundant throughout the west, where they have the same familiar habits of the eastern species, nesting in all sorts of locations such as would be used by the latter. Their nests are made of plant fibres, weeds, string, paper or any trash that may be handy, being sometimes quite bulky. Their eggs do not differ in any particular from those of the eastern bird, except that they may average a little smaller. Size .95 × .65.




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 Derby Flycatcher. 448. Cassin's Kingbird. Tyrannus vociferans. Range.--Western United States from the Rocky Mountain region to California, and from Wyoming southward. Buff. This species is like the last except that the throat and breast are darker. Their habits, nesting habits and eggs are indistinguishable from those of the other Tyrant Flycatchers, and they are fully as courageous in the defense of their homes against either man or bird, their notes resembling those of the common Kingbird of the east. 449. Derby Flycatcher. Pitangus sulphuratus derbianus. Range.--Mexico and Central America, breeding north to southern Texas. Creamy white. This handsome bird is the largest of the Flycatcher family found in the United States, being 11 inches in length. It has a black crown enclosing a yellow crown patch; a broad black stripe from the bill, through the eye and around the back of the head, is separated from the crown by a white forehead and line over the eye; the throat is white shading into yellow on the underparts. They are abundant in the interior of Mexico, but can hardly be classed as common over our border, where they nest in limited numbers. Their nests are unlike those of any of our other Flycatchers being large masses of moss, weeds and grass, arched over on top and with the entrance on the side. The three or four eggs are creamy white, sprinkled chiefly about the large end with small reddish brown or umber spots; size 1.15 × .85.
Page 285 451. Sulphur-bellied Flycatcher. Myiodynastes luteiventris. Crested Flycatcher. Range.--Mexico and Central America, breeding north to the Mexican border of Arizona. Creamy buff. This peculiar Flycatcher, which is unlike any other American species, can only be regarded as a rare breeding bird in the Huachuca Mts. It is 8 inches in length, has a grayish back streaked with black, the tail largely rusty brown and the underparts sulphur yellow, streaked on the breast and sides with dusky; a yellow crown patch is bordered on either side by a stripe of mottled dusky, and is separated from the blackish patch through the eye, by white superciliary lines. Their habits are similar to those of the genus Myiarchus, and, like them, they nest in cavities in trees, and lay from three to five eggs of a creamy buff color thickly spotted and blotched with brown and purplish, the markings not assuming the scratchy appearance of the Crested Flycatchers, but looking more like those of a Cardinal; size of egg 1.05 × .75. Data.--Huachuca Mts., Arizona, June 29, 1901. 4 eggs. Nest in the natural cavity of a live sycamore tree about fifty feet from the ground; composed of twigs. Collector, O. W. Howard. 452. Crested Flycatcher. Myiarchus crinitus. Range.--North America, east of the Plains, and from New Brunswick and Manitoba southward; winters from the Gulf States southward. Buff. This trim and graceful, but quarrelsome, species is grayish on the head, neck, and breast, shading to greenish on the back and quite abruptly into bright yellow on the underparts; the head is slightly crested and the inner webs of all the lateral tail feathers are reddish brown. They are abundant in most of their range but are generally shy so they are not as often seen as many other more rare birds. They nest in cavities of any kind of trees and at any elevation from the ground, the nest being made of twigs, weeds and trash, and generally having incorporated into its make-up a piece of cast off snake skin. They lay from four to six eggs of a buffy color, blotched and lined with dark brown and lavender. Size .85 × .65.




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 453--454. 453. Arizona Crested Flycatcher. Myiarchus magister magister. Range.--Southern Arizona and New Mexico, south through Mexico. Pale buff. This bird is very similar to, but averages slightly larger than the Mexican Flycatcher. Its nesting habits are the same and the eggs cannot be distinguished from those of the latter, the nest being most frequently found in giant cacti. 453a. Mexican Crested Flycatcher. Myiarchus magister nelsoni. Range.--Mexico, north to southern Texas. This species is similar to the last but is considerably paler. They are common in some localities, nesting in holes in trees or stumps, often those deserted by Woodpeckers. Their eggs are like those of the last but average paler. Data.--Corpus Christi, Texas, May 10, 1899. Nest in hole in telegraph pole; made of red cow hair, feathers and leaves. 4 eggs. Collector, Frank B. Armstrong. 454. Ash-throated Flycatcher. Myiarchus cinerascens cinerascens. Range.--North America, west of the Plains and south of Canada. Similar to the others of the genus but grayish brown above and with the underparts much paler, the throat and breast being nearly white. Like the others they nest in cavities in trees, either natural or ones made by Woodpeckers. Their four to five eggs are lighter in color than those of crinitus but cannot be distinguished from those of the Mexican Crested Flycatcher. Buff.