Chapter 18

Similar to the last but smaller (length 4.5 inches), and paler in color, fading to white on the throat. The habits of this species are like those of the eastern Chimney Swift, except that the majority of these species still continue to use hollow trees as nesting places. The eggs are just like those of the last bird.

425. WHITE-THROATED SWIFT. _Æronautes melanoleucus._

Range.--Western United States south of Canada, and chiefly in the Rocky Mountains, and in California ranges, north to Lat. 38°.

A handsome species, 6.5 inches in length, with blackish upper parts and sides, and white throat, breast and central line of under parts, flank patches and ends of secondaries; tail feathers not spined or stiffened. These birds are fairly common in some localities within their range, but appear to be found only on high ranges or in their immediate vicinity. They nest in crevices and caves in the face of cliffs, making a nest similar in construction to that of the Chimney Swift but of weed stalks instead of twigs, and lined with feathers. They lay four or five dull white eggs, during June or July; size .85 × .50.

Page 271

HUMMINGBIRDS. Family TROCHILIDAE

Hummingbirds have been truly called "Winged Gems." They are the smallest of birds, the usual plumage being a metallic green with throat or crown patches of the brightest of iridescent shining red, orange, blue or violet. Their nests are marvels of architecture being compactly and intricately made of plant fibres and downy feathers ornamented in some cases with lichens. Their flight is accompanied by a peculiar buzzing sound produced by their rapidly vibrating stiffened wing feathers. Their food is small insects and honey both of which they get chiefly from flowers.

426. RIVOLI'S HUMMINGBIRD. _Eugenes fulgens._

Range.--Mexico, north in summer to southern Arizona where they breed at high elevations in the Huachuca Mountains.

This is one of the most gorgeous of the Hummers having the crown a violet purple color, and the throat brilliant green. This species saddles its nest upon branches often at heights of 20 or 30 feet from the ground. They are made of plant down and generally decorated with lichens on the outside, similar to nests of the Ruby-throat. The two white eggs measure .65 × .40.

427. BLUE-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD. _Cyanolæmus clemenciæ._

Range.--Mexico, north in summer to the border of Arizona and western New Mexico.

This species is the largest of North American Hummers being 5.25 inches long, this being slightly larger than the preceding. As the name implies, it has a patch of blue on the throat, the upper parts being a uniform greenish; the outer tail feathers are broadly tipped with white. Their nests, which are placed upon the limbs of trees, are made of mosses and plant fibres covered with cobwebs. The two eggs are laid during July and August, and measure .65 × .40.

Page 272

Page 273

428. RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD. _Archilochus colubris._

Range.--North America east of the Plains and north to Labrador.

This is the only representative of the family found east of the Mississippi. It is a small species, 3.5 inches long, with greenish upper parts and a bright ruby throat. Its nest is as beautiful, if not more so, than that of any other species. They build their nests on horizontal limbs of trees at any height from the ground, but usually more than six feet. Branches an inch or more in diameter are usually selected, they not being particular as to the kind of tree, but oaks, pines and maples perhaps being used the most often. The nests are made of plant fibres and down, and the exterior is completely covered with green lichens so that it appears like a small bunch of moss on the limb. The two white eggs are laid in May or June; size .50 × .35.

429. BLACK-CHINNED HUMMINGBIRD. _Archilochus alexandri._

Range.--North America west of the Rocky Mountains; north to British Columbia; winters south of the United States.

Similar in size and appearance to the Ruby-throat, but with the chin and upper throat black, the rest of the throat gorget being violet or amethyst. It is an abundant species in summer in many localities, especially in the southern half of its range. They build their nests at low elevations, rarely above ten feet, on small branches or the fork at the end of a limb. The nests are made of yellowish plant fibres and are not covered with lichens, so that they have a peculiar spongy appearance. Eggs indistinguishable from those of the Ruby-throat. Laid during April, May or June.

Page 274

Page 275

430. COSTA'S HUMMINGBIRD. _Calypte costæ._

Range.--Southwestern United States; north to southern Utah; winters south of our border.

Smaller than the last and with both the crown and the throat gorget, violet or amethyst, the feathers on the sides of the latter being lengthened. Their nests are situated in the forks of branches generally near the ground, and seldom above six feet from it. They are made of plant down with shreds of weeds, bark and lichens worked into the outside portions, and are often lined with soft feathers. The two eggs average .48 × .32. Data.--Arroyo Seco, California, June 10, 1900. Nest in an alder bush. Collector, Charles E. Groesbeck.

431. ANNA'S HUMMINGBIRD. _Calypte anna_.

Range.--Pacific coast of the United States from northern California, southward, wintering in Mexico and southern California.

This handsome species has both the crown and the broadened and lengthened throat gorgets, a purplish pink; it is slightly larger than the Ruby-throat. They are very abundant in their restricted range, and nest in February and March and again in April or May, raising two broods a season. Their nests are made of plant down and covered on the outside with cobwebs and a few lichens, and are generally located at a low elevation. The white eggs average .50 × .30. Data.--Santa Monica, California, March 4, 1897. Nest in a bunch of seed pods in a gum tree, ten feet from the ground. Collector, Tom Bundy.

Page 276

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.

Page 278

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. 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.

Page 280

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.

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

443. SCISSOR-TAILED FLYCATCHER. _Muscivora forficata._

Range.--Mexico, north through Texas to southern Kansas; accidental in other parts of the country.

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._

Range.--Temperate North America, breeding from the Gulf of Mexico north to New Brunswick, Manitoba and British Columbia; rare off the Pacific coast.

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

Page 282

more pairs of these great insect 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.

Page 283

445. GRAY KINGBIRD. _Tyrannus dominicensis._

Range.--West Indies; north in April to Florida and the South Atlantic States to South Carolina and casually farther.

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.

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.

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.

Page 284

448. CASSIN'S KINGBIRD. _Tyrannus vociferans._

Range.--Western United States from the Rocky Mountain region to California, and from Wyoming southward.

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.

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._

Range.--Mexico and Central America, breeding north to the Mexican border of Arizona.

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.

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.

Page 286

453. ARIZONA CRESTED FLYCATCHER. _Myiarchus magister magister._

Range.--Southern Arizona and New Mexico, south through Mexico.

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.