Chapter XXVI: Section IV: Crown rufous; body above, olive-green (17)

Captain Prevost, R. N., obtained a single specimen of this bird on Vancouver Island, which Mr. Sclater compared with Gosse’s _Cypselus niger_, from Jamaica. He, however, is not satisfied as to their identity, and is inclined to regard the two birds as distinct.

According to Captain Feilner, this species breeds in the middle of June, on high rocks on the Klamath River, about eight miles above Judah’s Cave.

The Black Swift was seen by Mr. Ridgway, during his western tour, only once, when, about the middle of June, an assembly of several hundreds was observed early one morning hovering over the Carson River, below Fort Churchill, in Nevada. In the immediate vicinity was an immense rocky cliff, where he supposed they nested. In their flight they much resembled Chimney-Swallows (_Chætura_), only they appeared much larger. They were perfectly silent. On the Truckee River, near Pyramid Lake, in May of the same year, he found the remains of one which had been killed by a hawk, but the species was not seen there alive.

GENUS CHÆTURA, STEPHENS.

_Chætura_, STEPHENS, Shaw’s Gen. Zoöl. Birds, XIII, II, 1825, 76.
(Type, _C. pelagica_.)
_Acanthylis_, BOIE, Isis, 1826, 971. (_Cypselus spinicauda._)

[Line drawing: _Chætura pelagica._
1010 ♀]

GEN. CHAR. Tail very short, scarcely more than two fifths the wings; slightly rounded; the shafts stiffened and extending some distance beyond the feathers in a rigid spine. First primary longest. Legs covered by a naked skin, without scutellæ or feathers. Tarsus longer than middle toe. Lateral toes equal, nearly as long as the middle. Hind toe scarcely versatile, or quite posterior; including claw, less than the middle anterior without it. Toes slender; claws moderate. Feathers of the base of the bill not extending beyond the beginning of the nostrils.

By the arrangement of the genera on page 1018, the _C. rutila_ and large white-collared species are excluded from the present genus as restricted. _Chætura_, as here defined, is a genus of very extensive distribution, species occurring not only in North and South America, but also in Africa and Asia. Among the several American members, three styles are distinguishable, these probably representing only as many species; the several more closely allied forms being, in all probability, but geographical modifications of these three types. They may be arranged as follows:—

_Plumage with no marked contrast of shades._

C. pelagica. Nearly uniformly dusky grayish-brown, the
throat, however, very much lighter, and the rump just
appreciably so.

Above glossy dusky-brown, hardly appreciably paler on
the rump; abdomen scarcely paler than the back. Wing,
5.20. _Hab._ Eastern Province North America var. _pelagica_.

Above glossy blackish-dusky, very decidedly paler on the
rump; abdomen very much paler than the back. Wing, 4.50.
_Hab._ Pacific Province of North America, south to
Guatemala (from whence specimens are much darker, almost
black above, and slightly smaller) var. _vauxi_.

Above glossy black, fading into sooty dusky on the rump;
abdomen like the rump. Wing, 4.80. _Hab._ Northern South
America (Cayenne, Tobago) var. _poliura_.[110]

_Plumage with marked contrast of shades._

C. cinereiventris.[111] Upper parts, except the rump,
glossy, intense blue-black; rump and lower parts
bluish-cinereous, conspicuously different.

C. spinicauda.[112] Upper parts glossy black, with a white
band across the rump. Below sooty-whitish, with indistinct
black marks on the breast, wing, 3.90. _Hab._ Cayenne and
Brazil.

[110] _Chætura poliura_, (TEMM.) SCL. Cat. Am. B. 1862, 101;
P. Z. S. 1866, 611. (_Cypselus polivurus_, TEMM. Tab. Méth.
p. 78.)

[111] _Chætura cinereiventris_, SCL. Cat. Am. B. 1862, p.
283; P. Z. S. 1863, p. 101, pl. xiv, f. 1; P. Z. 1866, 612.
_C. sclateri_, PELZ. Orn. Braz. I, 1868, pp. 16, 56, is also
referrible to it as perhaps a race.

[112] _Chætura spinicauda_, SCL. Cypselus spinicaudus, TEM.
Tabl. Méth. p. 78 (ex Buff. Pl. Enl. 726, f. 1). _Acanthylis
s._ BOIE, Isis, 1826, p. 971; BONAP. Consp. p. 64. _Chætura
s._ SCL. Catal. Am. Birds, 1862, 283. _Hirundo pelasgia_,
var., LATH. Ind. Orn. II, 581. _Hab._ Cayenne and Brazil.

Chætura pelagica, BAIRD.

CHIMNEY SWALLOW.

_Hirundo pelagica_, LINN. Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 1758, 192. _Hirundo
pelasgia_, LINN. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 345.—WILS. Am. Orn. V,
1812, 48, pl. xxxix, fig. 1. _Cypselus pelasgia_, AUD. Orn.
Biog. II, 1834, 329; V, 419, pl. clviii. _Chætura pelasgia_,
STEPHENS, in Shaw’s Gen. Zoöl. Birds, XIII, II, 1825, 76.—IB.
Birds America, I, 1840, 164, pl. xliv.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am.
1858, 144.—SAMUELS, 116.—ALLEN, Birds Fla. 301. _Acanthylis
pelasgia_, “TEMM.”—BON. Consp. 1850, 64.—CASSIN, Ill. I,
1855, 241. _Hemiprocne pelasgia_, STREUBEL, Isis, 1848, 363.
_Aculeated Swallow_, PENN. Arc. Zoöl. II, 1785, 432. _Cypselus
pelasgius_, MAX. Cab. Journ. 1858.

SP. CHAR. Tail slightly rounded. Sooty-brown all over, except on the throat, which becomes considerably lighter from the breast to the bill. Above with a greenish tinge; the rump a little paler. Length, 5.25; wing, 5.10; tail, 2.15.

HAB. Eastern United States to slopes of Rocky Mountains?

The etymology of the specific name of _pelasgia_, used by Linnæus, of this bird, in the twelfth edition of Systema Naturæ, has always been a question. We find that the word in the tenth edition is _pelagica_, referring probably to the supposed passage over the Caribbean Sea in its annual migrations.

_Chætura vauxi_, the western representative of this bird, is extremely similar, but distinguishable by considerably smaller size, much lighter, almost white, throat, paler rump, and under parts decidedly lighter than the back. _C. poliura_, which much resembles it, is blacker above, and much darker below. (See synopsis on page 1027.)

HABITS. The common Chimney Swallow of North America has an extended range throughout the eastern portions of the continent, from the Atlantic to the 50th parallel of northern latitude. It was not met with by Dr. Richardson in the fur regions, but was found by Say at Pembina, on the Red River, in what is now the northern part of Minnesota. Its western range is not well determined, but is presumed to be terminated by the great plains. It has been found as far west as Bijoux Hill, in Nebraska.

In its habits, especially during the breeding-season, this Swift presents many remarkable differences from the European species. While the latter are shy and retiring, shunning the places frequented by man, and breeding chiefly in caves or ruined and deserted habitations, their representatives in eastern North America, like all the Swallow family here, have, immediately upon the erection of the dwellings of civilized life, manifested their appreciation of the protection they afford, by an entire change in their habits in regard to the location of their nests. When the country was first settled, these birds were known to breed only in the hollow trunks of forest trees. The chimneys of the dwellings of civilized communities presented sufficient inducements, in their greater convenience, to tempt this bird to forsake their primitive breeding-places. The change in this respect has been nearly complete. And now, in the older portions of the country, they are not known to resort to hollow trees for any other purpose than as an occasional roosting-place.

In wild portions of the country, where natural facilities are still afforded to these Swifts, they are occasionally found breeding within the hollows of decaying trees. Mr. George A. Boardman, of St. Stephen, N. B., writes that in his neighborhood this bird continues to build in the hollows of trees. He adds, that in the summer of 1863 he found them building within a hollow birch. He also met with one of their nests built against a board in an old winter logging-camp, at a distance from any chimney. Mr. Ridgway has also met with the nest of this bird inside the trunk of a large sycamore-tree, and also mentions finding another attached to the planks of an outbuilding, in the Wabash valley of Southeastern Illinois.

Mr. J. A. Allen found this species quite numerous in Kansas, where it was breeding chiefly in the hollow trees of the forests, which it always seems naturally to prefer to chimneys, to which it is compelled to resort, in most of the longer settled districts, or else wholly to abandon the country.

The Chimney Swallow is known to breed throughout the Central and Northern States, from Virginia to Canada. Dr. Woodhouse states that he found this species very abundant throughout the Indian Territory, as also in Texas, and New Mexico, even to California. It was not, however, taken at San Antonio by Mr. Dresser, nor in any portion of Texas, and was not procured by any of the naturalists in the other Western expeditions.

The Chimney Swallow is crepuscular, rather than nocturnal, in its habits, preferring to hunt for its insect prey in dull and cloudy weather, or in the early morning and the latter part of the afternoon. In this it is probably influenced by the abundance or scarcity of insects, as it is not unfrequently to be seen hawking for insects in the bright glare of noon. When they have young, they often continue to feed them until quite late at night. They are not, however, to be regarded as nocturnal, as they are only known to do this during a brief period.

The nest of this species is a very peculiar and remarkable structure. It is composed of small twigs of nearly uniform size, wrought and interwoven into a neat semicircular basket. In selecting the twigs with which they are to construct their nests, the Swifts break from the tree the ends of living branches, which they gather with great skill and adroitness while on the wing. Sweeping upon the coveted twig somewhat as a Hawk rushes on its prey, it divides it at the desired place, and bears it off to its nest. This is a well-attested fact, familiar to all who have ever watched these birds in the early morning as they are at work constructing their nests.

Each one of these twigs is strongly fastened to its fellows by an adhesive saliva secreted by the bird, and by the same cement the whole structure is made to adhere to the side of the chimney in which it is built. This saliva, as it dries, hardens into a tough glue-like substance, as firm even as the twigs it unites. In separating nests from the sides of chimneys, I have known portions of the brick to which it was fastened part sooner than the cement. When moistened, however, by long-continued rains, the weight of their contents will sometimes cause these nests to part, and the whole is precipitated to the bottom. The young birds cling very tenaciously to the sides of the chimneys with their bills and claws. They not only are often able, in these accidents, to save themselves from falling, but even at a very early age can cling to the sides of the chimney and work their way to the top. They always leave their nest and climb to the upper part of the chimney several days before they can fly, and are there fed by their parents.

Occasionally the young birds fall to the bottom of the chimney, out of the reach or notice of their parents. I have never been able to induce them to take any food, although they keep uttering pitiful cries of hunger. In such cases the young birds placed on the roof near their native chimney soon manage to climb to its base, and there receive the aid of the old birds.

Their eggs are four in number, somewhat elliptical in form, though somewhat less obtuse at one end than the other. They are of a pure white color, and are never spotted. They vary but little in size or shape, and measure from .75 to .81 of an inch in length, and from .50 to .55 in breadth.

In New England the Chimney Swallow raises but one brood in a season. In Pennsylvania it is said to have two.

Chætura (pelagica var. ?) vauxi, (TOWNS.) DEKAY.

OREGON CHIMNEY SWIFT.

_Cypselus vauxi_, TOWNSEND, J. A. N. Sc. VIII, 1839, 148 (Columbia
River).—IB. Narrative, 1839. _Chætura vauxi_, DEKAY, N. Y.
Zoöl. II, 1844, 36.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 145, pl.
xviii.—SCLATER, Cat. 282.—IB. P. Z. S. 1863, 100
(Guatemala).—KENNERLY, P. R. R. x, b, pl. xviii, f. 2.—COOPER
& SUCKLEY, 165.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. 1, 1870, 351. _Acanthylis
vauxi_, BONAP. Comptes Rendus, XXVIII, 1854; notes Delattre,
90.—CASSIN, Ill. I, 1855, 250.—NEWBERRY, Zoöl. Cal. and Or.
Route, 78; P. R. R. Surv. VI, 1857.

SP. CHAR. Light sooty-brown; rump and under parts paler; lightest on the chin and throat. Length, 4.50; wing, 4.75; tail, 1.90.

HAB. Pacific coast, from Puget’s Sound to California. West coast to Guatemala (SCL. P. Z. S. 1863, 100); Yucatan (LAWR. Ann. N. Y. Lyc. IX, 204).

This species bears a very close resemblance to the common Chimney Swallow of the Eastern States, being only readily distinguishable by its much smaller size, 4.50 inches instead of 5.25. The wing, too, is nearly an inch shorter. The tarsus and the middle toe, however, seem absolutely longer. The rump is a little paler than in _C. pelagica_, as well as the under parts, where the chin and throat are lighter, almost dirty white, and gradually becoming a little darker behind, although even the hinder part of the belly is much lighter than the back, even in strong contrast, instead of being of the same color with it. Guatemalan specimens are much darker.

HABITS. This western Swift was first discovered by Mr. Townsend on the Columbia River, where he found it having the primitive habits of the eastern species, and breeding in hollow trees, forming a nest in a similar manner, and laying four pure-white eggs. It differs from the common bird in its smaller size and lighter color. It is said to occur from Puget Sound to California.

Dr. Cooper met with these birds May 4, 1864, in the Coast Range, twelve miles south of Santa Clara. He was of the opinion that they had nests in hollow trees at the summit of the mountains, but he was not able to find any. He did not observe any at Fort Vancouver in the summer of 1853, nor did he learn whether these birds are found in the central valleys of California. In 1866 they were observed to make their first appearance at Santa Cruz on the 4th of May, though as they rarely descended to the town they might have been on the hills earlier than this. On the 5th of October he observed five of them, in company with a large flock of _Hirundo bicolor_, spending the morning in hunting insects near the town. They were apparently delayed in their migration southward by a thick fog and cold south-wind. They may have been a late brood from the north.

Dr. Kennerly obtained a single specimen of this species at the Straits of Fuca, showing that these birds sometimes extend their migrations up to the 49th parallel. Neither Dr. Suckley nor Dr. Cooper was able to find this Swift anywhere in Washington Territory.

Dr. Newberry observed this species quite common in California, but could obtain no specimens, owing to the height at which they flew. He saw nothing of it in Oregon.

Two specimens of this species obtained in Mexico by M. de Saussure are in the collection of Dr. Sclater.

Mr. Ridgway saw on the Truckee River, near Pyramid Lake, in May, 1868, what he supposes to have been this species. It was not common, only a few individuals being observed every evening just before dusk, flying overhead exactly in the manner of Chimney Swallows (_C. pelagica_), which they also exactly resembled in appearance. They flew so high that specimens could not be obtained. They were entirely silent, and appeared at no other time than in the evening, in these respects differing strikingly from the eastern species.

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.

[113] Genus _Lampornis_, SWAINS. CHAR. Size large (wing,
2.50); tail large, more than half the wing, the feathers
very broad; usually a little rounded, sometimes slightly
emarginated (as in _L. mango_, _L. virginalis_, and _L.
aurulentus_). Bill cylindrical, considerably curved, its
vertical thickness least at about the middle. Nasal opercula
nearly covered by the frontal feathers; tarsi naked. Wing
very long, reaching to or beyond the tip of the tail; first
primary longest, only slightly bowed, and not attenuated at
tip; inner primaries normal.

The species of this genus belong chiefly to the West India
Islands and to Tropical America,—principally on the
Atlantic coast. They are all of more than the average size,
and distinguished by broad tail-feathers, and rather dull,
though handsome colors. In _L. porphyrurus_ the sexes are
alike in color. The following species has been accredited to
North America, but probably upon erroneous data, since it
belongs to northern South America, not even being an
inhabitant of any of the West India Islands, except
Trinidad. Still it is possible that, as alleged for
_Thaumatias linnæi_ (see page 1064), it may have wandered
far from its usual habitat, and have reached Florida, as
stated by Mr. Audubon.

_Lampornis mango_, (L.) SWAINS.—The Mango Hummer.
_Trochilus mango_, L. S. N. I, 191.—GMEL. S. N. I.
491.—AUD. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 486; pl. 184.—IB. Birds Am.
IV, 1842, 186, pl. ccli. _Lampornis mango_, SW. Zoöl. Journ.
III, 358.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 130. SP. CHAR.—_Male_:
Above deep golden green; beneath opaque velvety-black
medially, from the bill to the anal region, separated from
the lateral and superior green by a tint of metallic
greenish-blue. Tail richly metallic rufous-purple, the
feathers bordered terminally with blue-black; intermediæ
plain dark bronzy-green. Primaries plain dull dusky.
_Female._ Similar, but white beneath, except laterally, and
with a medial stripe of black, from the bill to the anus.
Wing, 2.60-2.70; tail, 1.50-1.70; bill, .90. _Hab._ Northern
South America (Brazil, Guiana, Venezuela, New Granada,
Panama, and Trinidad); accidental in Florida???

GENUS STELLULA, GOULD.

_Stellula_, GOULD, Introd. Trochil. 1861, 90. (Type, _Trochilus
calliope_, GOULD.)

[Line drawing: _Stellula calliope._
17992 ♂]

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.

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).

[Line drawing: _Trochilus colubris._
1101 ♀]

[Line drawing: _Trochilus colubris._
1100 ♂]

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.

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.

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.