Mr. R. H. Lawrence records the Allen Hummer as a summer resident of the Gray’s Harbor country, and says of it[63]: “Perhaps as common as T. rufus, and frequenting similar places. First noted in 1891 on the East Humptulips, April 30. I had a good view of one on Quiniault Lake June 13.”
Mr. Chas. A. Allen, of Nicasio, Cal., who discovered this species and in whose honor it was named, says of these birds[64]: “Their courage is beyond question; I once saw two of these little warriors start after a Western Red-tailed Hawk, and they attacked it so vigorously that the Hawk was glad to get out of their way. But these little scamps were even then not satisfied, but helped him along after he had decided to go. Each male seems to claim a particular range which he occupies for feeding and breeding purposes, and every other bird seen by him encroaching on his preserve is at once so determinedly set upon and harassed that he is only too glad to beat a hasty retreat. During their quarrels these birds keep up an incessant sharp chirping, and a harsh rasping buzzing with the wings, which sounds very different from the low soft humming they make with these while feeding. * * * During the mating and breeding season the male frequently shoots straight up into the air and nearly out of sight, only to turn suddenly and rush headlong down until within a few feet of the ground. The wings during the downward rushes cut the air and cause a sharp, whistling screech, as they descend with frightful velocity, and should they strike anything in their downward course, I believe they would be instantly killed.”
CALLIOPE HUMMERS
MALE AND FEMALE, ⅚ LIFE SIZE
From a Water-color Painting by Allan Brooks
No. 155.
CALLIOPE HUMMINGBIRD.
A. O. U. No. 436. Stellula calliope Gould.
Synonyms.—Calliope Hummer. Star Hummer.
Description.—Adult male: Upperparts golden-green; tail chiefly dusky, rufous at base, paler on tips, slightly double-rounded, its feathers broadening distally and nearly round at tips; sides of throat and underparts white, washed with greenish and brownish on sides; gorget somewhat produced laterally, of lengthened acuminate feathers having white bases, rose-purple, or violet, with lilac reflections. Bill straight, black above, yellowish below. Adult female: Coloration of upperparts, save tail, as in male; central tail-feathers green tipped with dusky; remaining rectrices greenish gray mingled with rufous basally, crossed with black, and tipped with white. Young birds resemble adult female but are heavily washed with rufous below and have throat more or less specked with dusky. Length of adult male: 2.75-3.00 (69.9-76.2); wing 1.55 (39.4); tail 1.00 (25.4); bill .57 (14.5). Female much larger—up to 3.50 (88.9).
Recognition Marks.—Pygmy size; the smallest of the northern ranging species; gorget of male with radiating feathers of rose-purple hue distinctive, but female hard to discriminate afield.
Nesting.—Much as in other species. Av. size of Eggs: .47 × .30 (11.9 × 7.6). Season: June or July according to altitude; one brood.
General Range.—Breeding in the mountains of the West, north to central British Columbia; south in winter to the mountains of Mexico.
Range in Washington.—Summer resident, chiefly in Transition and Canadian zones, east of the Cascades, and in these mountains to the limit of trees. Mr. Lawrence’s record remains unique for the West-side, but the bird probably breeds in the Olympics also.
Authorities.—? Lawrence, Auk, Vol. IX. Jan. 1892, p.44. Bendire, Life Hist. N. A. Birds, Vol. II. 1895, p.219. L¹. D². J. B.
Specimens.—P¹. C.
Ornithologists have been hard put to it to provide names for these most exquisite of birds, the Hummers. The realms of callilithology, chromatics, esthetics, astronomy, history, classical mythology, and a score beside, have been laid under tribute to secure such fanciful and high-sounding titles as the Fiery Topaz, Ruby-and-Topaz, Allied Emerald, Red-throated Sapphire, Sparkling-tail, White-booted Racket-tail, Fork-tailed Rainbow, the Sappho Comet, the Circe, Rivoli and Lucifer Hummers, the Adorable Coquette, and, last but not least, the truly Marvelous Hummingbird (Loddigesia mirabilis). What wonder, then, that with so many children to provide for, Gould, the great monographer of the Trochilidæ, should have named this nearly silent but always beautiful species after the muse of eloquence, Calliope?
While it is true that the species may be found in abundance thruout the higher Cascades, and especially along their eastern slopes, it is hardly just to say with Bendire, that “the Calliope Hummingbird is a mountain-loving species and during the breeding season is rarely met with below altitudes of 4,000 feet, and much more frequently between 6,500 to 8,000 feet.”[65] We have found it commonly in the northern and eastern portions of Washington at much lower altitudes, and have taken its nest in the burning gorge of the Columbia at an altitude of only six hundred feet. In the mountains the bird knows no restriction of range, save that it avoids the heavily timbered slopes of the West-side; and it is at least as common along the divide as is the Rufous Hummer.
Taken in Spokane. Photo by F. S. Merrill.
CALLIOPE HUMMER, FEMALE.