Color Key to North American Birds Part 48

_Ad._ [Female]. Outer tail-feathers rusty at base, then black with a broad white tip; middle feathers _entirely_ green; above bronzy green; throat feathers with dusky centers; sides rusty.

Range.--Rocky Mountains: west, rarely to eastern California; north to southern Wyoming and Idaho; winters south of United States.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 433.]

=433. Rufous Hummingbird= (_Selasphorus rufus_), L. 3.6. _Ad._ [Male].

Next to middle pair of tail-feathers _notched_ near tip of inner web; back _reddish brown_ sometimes washed with green. _Ad._ [Female].

Sides _rusty_, back green, throat spotted with green and sometimes ruby, outer tail-feathers rusty at base, then black and a white tip, the feather _more_ than .12 wide; middle tail-feathers green at base, end black. _Yng._ [Male]. Similar to [Female] but _all_ tail-feathers rusty at base.

Range.--Western United States; breeds from the higher mountains of southern California and Arizona, north to Lat. 61 in Alaska; during migrations east to Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, and western Texas; winters in southern Mexico.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 434.]

=434. Allen Hummingbird= (_Selasphorus alleni_). L. 3.6. _Ad._ [Male].

Crown and _back green_, and tail rusty tipped with dusky, no notch in tail-feathers; in other respects like No. 433. _Ad._ [Female] _and Yng._ [Male]. Like the same of No. 433, but outer tail-feather less than .12 in. wide.

Range.--Pacific coast, from Monterey, California, north to British Columbia; migrates south through Arizona, and southern California to Mexico.

=435. Morcom Hummingbird= (_Atthis morcomi_). L. 2.9. _Ad._ [Female].

Above bronzy green; middle tail-feathers bronzy green tinged with rusty on basal half; rest of tail-feathers rusty brown, then green, then black and tipped with white; below white, sides rusty, throat spotted with bronze-green. (Ridgw.) Male unknown.

Range.--Huachuca Mountains, southern Arizona, (known from one specimen.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: 436.]

=436. Calliope Hummingbird= (_Stellula calliope_). L. 3. _Ad._ [Male].

Throat purplish pink, white at base _showing through_; above green.

_Ad._ [Female]. Sides rusty, throat with green spots, above green, outer tail-feathers gray at base, then black, then white _in nearly equal amounts_. _Yng._ [Male]. Similar to [Female].

Range.--Mountains of western United States; breeds north to Montana, Idaho, and British Columbia; west to eastern Oregon and eastern California; winters, south of United States; rare on Pacific coast of United States.

Order XVII. PERCHING BIRDS.

Pa.s.sERES.

Family 1. FLYCATCHERS. Tyrannidae. 32 species, 7 subspecies.

Family 2. LARKS. Alaudidae. 1 species, 13 subspecies.

Family 3. CROWS AND JAYS. Corvidae. 21 species, 14 subspecies.

Family 4. BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC. Icteridae. 18 species, 14 subspecies.

Family 5. FINCHES, SPARROWS, ETC. Fringillidae. 87 species, 92 subspecies.

Family 6. TANAGERS. Tanagridae. 4 species, 1 subspecies.

Family 7. SWALLOWS. Hirundinidae. 9 species, 2 subspecies.

Family 8. WAXWINGS. Ampelidae. 3 species.

Family 9. SHRIKES. Laniidae. 2 species, 3 subspecies.

Family 10. VIREOS. Vireonidae. 13 species, 10 subspecies.

Family 11. WARBLERS. Mniotiltidae. 55 species, 18 subspecies.

Family 12. WAGTAILS. Motacillidae. 3 species.

Family 13. DIPPERS. Cinclidae. 1 species.

Family 14. WRENS, THRASHERS, ETC. Troglodytidae. 26 species, 24 subspecies.

Family 15. CREEPERS. Certhiidae. 1 species, 4 subspecies.

Family 16. NUTHATCHES AND t.i.tS. Paridae. 21 species, 20 subspecies.

Family 17. KINGLETS, GNATCATCHERS, ETC. Sylviidae. 7 species, 3 subspecies.

Family 18. THRUSHES, BLUEBIRDS, ETC. t.u.r.didae. 13 species, 14 subspecies.

The North American members of the Order Pa.s.sERES are placed in two Suborders, the _Clamatores_, or so-called Songless Perching Birds, which includes all the Flycatchers, and the Suborder _Oscines_, or Singing Perching Birds, which includes all our remaining Perching Birds. While the Flycatchers are therefore technically cla.s.sed as songless birds, it does not follow that they have no songs. Sing they do, but because of the less developed condition of their voice-producing organ, they cannot give utterance to the longer and more musical songs of the Oscines, which are supplied with a better musical instrument.

The Flycatchers, (Family Tyrannidae) number somewhat over three hundred and fifty species, and are found only in America, where they are most abundant in the tropics. Feeding almost exclusively on insects, those species which visit the United States are of necessity migratory, not more than half a dozen of the thirty species which nest with us, remaining in the United States during the winter, and these are found only on our southern borders.

Flycatchers as a rule, capture their prey on the wing. When perching, their pose is usually erect and hawk-like. They often raise their crown feathers, which in many species are somewhat lengthened, a habit giving them a certain big-headed appearance.

Flycatchers are most useful birds. The food of the Kingbird, for example, a species which is erroneously believed to destroy honey bees, has been found to consist of 90 per cent. insects, mostly injurious species, while only fourteen out of two hundred and eighty-one stomachs contained the remains of honey bees; forty of the fifty bees found being drones.

The true Larks, (Family _Alaudidae_) are chiefly Old World birds, the Skylark being the best known member of the Family. In America we have only the Horned or Sh.o.r.e Larks, one species of which shows so much climatic variation in color throughout its wide range, that no less than thirteen subspecies or geographical races of it are recognized in the United States.

The Horned Lark is a bird of the plains and prairies and is less common in the Atlantic States than westward. Like the Skylark it sings in the air, but its vocal powers are limited and not to be compared with those of its famous relative.

The Crows and Jays, (Family _Corvidae_) number about two hundred species of which some twenty-five inhabit the western hemisphere. To this family belong the Raven, Rook, Magpie and Jackdaw, all birds of marked intelligence; and our Crows and Jays are fully worthy of being cla.s.sed with these widely known and distinguished members of their family.

The Crows and Jays, by varying their food with the season, are rarely at loss for supplies of one kind or another and most species are represented throughout their ranges at all times of the year. In the more northern parts of their homes, however, some of these birds are migratory, and Crows, as is well known, gather in great flocks during the winter, returning each night to a roost frequented, in some instances, by two or three hundred thousand Crows.

While the Crows and Jays are technically 'Song Birds' their voices are far from musical. Nevertheless they possess much range of expression and several species learn to enunciate words with more or less ease.

The Starlings, (Family _Sturnidae_) are Old World birds represented in America only by the European Starling which was introduced into Central Park, New York City, in 1890 and is now common in the surrounding country.