Plate XLVII. Male, Female, and Young.
Bill straight, acute; tail of moderate length, even. Upper parts light
green with golden reflections; quills and tail purplish-brown, the two
middle feathers like the back; throat, sides of the head, and fore
neck carmine-purple, spotted with black, varying to crimson, orange,
and deep black; sides light green, the rest of the lower parts
greyish-white mixed with green. Female differs in wanting the
brilliant patch on the throat, which is white, as are the lower parts
generally, and having the three lateral tail-feathers tipped with the
same colour. Young with the lower parts brownish-white, the tail
tipped with white, the upper parts light green.
_Male_, 3-1/4, 4-1/2.
In summer, from Texas to Lat. 57°, and in all intermediate districts,
east of the Rocky Mountains. Common. Migratory.
Humming Bird, Trochilus Colubris, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. ii. p.
26.
Trochilus Colubris, Bonap. Syn. p. 98.
Trochilus Colubris, Northern Humming Bird, Swains. & Rich. F.
Bor. Amer. v. ii. p. 323.
Ruby-throated Humming Bird, Nutt. Man. v. i. p. 588.
Ruby-throated Humming Bird, Trochilus colubris, Aud. Orn.
Biog. v. i. p. 248; v. v. p. 544.
GENUS II. SELASPHORUS, Swains. RUFFED-HUMMINGBIRD.
Bill long, straight, subulate, extremely slender, somewhat depressed
at the base, acute; upper mandible with the dorsal line straight, the
ridge narrow at the base, broad and convex toward the end, the sides
convex, the edges overlapping, the tip acuminate; lower mandible with
the angle very long and extremely narrow, the dorsal line straightish,
the edges erect, the tip acuminate. Nostrils basal, linear. Head of
ordinary size, oblong; neck short; body short and ovate. Feet very
small; tarsus very short, feathered more than half-way; toes small,
the lateral equal, the third not much longer, the first a little
shorter than the lateral; claws rather long, arched, compressed, very
acute. Plumage soft and blended; elongated feathers on the sides of
the neck in the males. Wings rather short, falcate, pointed, the
second primary longest. Tail rather long, broad, graduated.
254. 1. Selasphorus rufus, Gmel. Rufous Ruffed-Hummingbird.--Nootka
Hummingbird.
Plate CCCLXXIX. Male and Female.
Male with the upper parts bright cinnamon or reddish-orange, the head
bronzed green, the wings dusky purple, their coverts glossed with
green; each of the tail-feathers with a narrow, longitudinal,
lanceolate, median streak toward the end; loral space, a narrow band
over the eye, another beneath it, and auricular, orange-red;
scale-like feathers of the throat and sides of the neck splendent,
fire-red, changing to purplish-red, yellowish-red, greenish-yellow, or
yellowish-green; behind them on the fore neck a broad band of
reddish-white; the rest of the lower parts like the upper, the abdomen
inclining to white. Female with the upper parts gold-green, the head
inclining to brown; wings as in the male; tail-feathers orange-red at
the base, brownish-black toward the end, the tip white; lower parts
white, tinged with rufous, especially the sides; throat with roundish
spots of metallic greenish-red.
_Male_, 3-7/12, wing, 1-((7-1/4)/12).
From California along the north-west coast to Nootka Sound. Abundant.
Migratory.
Trochilus rufus, Gmel. Syst. Nat. v. i. p. 497.
Trochilus (Selasphorus) rufus, Cinnamon or Nootka Humming
Bird, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer. v. ii. p. 324.
Ruffed-necked Humming Bird, Trochilus rufus, Aud. Orn. Biog.
v. iv. p. 555.