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.
