Page:Condor5(4).djvu/26

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Jm,, I9O31 THE CONDOR ?o7 as little warning as he does when simply in search of food. While going up the tree he gives, from time to time, a characteristic call, much like that of the hairy woodpecker. Although I never saw the nest of the bird, one was found by Dr. Fisher, in a maple, about twenty feet from the ground, which contained naked young on May I4. A nest containing young was found in the Chiricahua'Mountains by Mr. W. W. Price, in I893. As far as I know, these birds were found only in the live-oaks of the western and southern slopes of these mountains. RIVOLI HUMMINGBIRD (Eug'e2zesfulg'ens). Early one bright, sunny morning in the first part of September, i892 , while waiting for breakfast, I ehaneed to take a stroll through our garden, which at that time was one of the most beautiful in the post of Fort I-Iuachuca. The diminutive rufous hummers were out in great force, it seemed to me, more for the purpose of fighting than feeding. While watching the antics of these birds, my attention was attracted by a monster hum- mingbird that flitted over the house, without any apparent effort, and began to feed among some scarlet geraniums in a large flower-bed. All I knew when I made a rush for the house, was that right therein our garden, was something very rare in the bird line. When I got back with my gun the bird had left, but was soon found on the other side of the house, where, after a few unsuccessful at- tempts, I finally shot it, and I do not know that even the trogon, of which I have spoken, pleased me as much as did this fine hummer, with his black irides- cent breast, showing green in some lights, the bright emerald gorget, and forehead of rich violet blue. Its motions were nnlike any other hummer I have ever seen as its wings did not hum in the manner that has given this family its name, but cut the air with strong, firm, wing beats. Its flight wa? erratic, like that of the hnmmingbi,r8 moth, and at times like that of a bat. It would even soar, or sail for a few fe?. It was not very shy, but when it made up its mind to go it would flit aWaY on an erratic course without the slightest warning. I saw this hummer next at Rueker's Canyon, in the lower end of the Chid- eahua Mts. in the last part of May '94, where, as we sat skinning some specimens, a fine male darted by, hovered a moment over some flowers, and then disappeared up the canyon. When Dr. Fisher and myself reached Fly Park, in the Chirieahuas the first week of June, i894 , we found this, as well as the blue-throated hummer, common. They had evidently just come up from Mexico on their spring migration, and had not as yet spread through the deep canyons where they breed. Here. we found them at their best, the males continually fighting, though not so fiercely as the smaller species, or displaying their brilliant colors to enemies, and admirers, from" some sunny twig. As far as my observations went, [ remember only males, 'and no females, but Dr. Fisher obtained one or more females. WHITE-EARED HUMblINGBIRD. The history of the white-eared hummer (Basilirma/eucolis) within our border is very short, and it is to be hoped that further notes on this species (which was recorded for the first time in the United States in x894 ) can be obtained soon. On the morning of June 9, x894, Dr. Fisher and myself started from our camp at Fly Park for a hunt. We had not gone fifty yards from the tent, when the Doctor saw, p?rched on a twig, a hummer which had a decidedly white patch be- hind its eye. He called my attention to the peculiarity, and then shot the speci- men. In the hand the white patch was very noticeable, and he thought it was an immature specimen of the Circe hummer, but it has since been identified as the white-eared hummingbird, a straggler from Mexico. Another specimen has since been secured in the [-Iuachucas, I believe, by Mr. Lusk.