Audubon Centennial Edition - The Birds of America

Havell Name
Columbian Humming Bird

Common Name
Anna's Hummingbird

Havell Plate No.
425

Paper Size
39" x 28"

Image Size
18" x 10"

Price
$ 600

Ornithological Biography
My good friend THOMAS NUTTALL, while travelling from the Rocky Mountains toward California, happened to observe on a low oak bush a Humming-birdā€™s nest on which the female was sitting. Having cautiously approached, he secured the bird with his hat. The male in the meantime fluttered angrily around, but as my friend had not a gun, he was unable to procure it.

The nest, which he has presented to me, is attached to a small branch, and several leaves from a twig issuing from it, which have apparently been bent down for the purpose. It is very small, even for the size of the bird, being an inch and a half in depth, and an inch and a quarter in breadth externally at the mouth, while its internal diameter is ten-twelfths, and its depth eight and a half twelfths. It is of a conical form, and composed of the cottony down apparently of some species of willow, intermixed with scales of catkins and a few feathers, and lined with the same substances. The eggs, two in number, are pure white, of a nearly elliptical form, five-twelfths of an inch long, and three and a quarter twelfths in their greatest breadth.

The figures of the nest and female are taken from the specimens presented to me by Mr. NUTTALL. Those of the male I made from specimens, for the use of which I am indebted to Mr. LODDIGE, of London, whose collection of Humming-birds is unrivalled. This species is the fourth now found within the limits of the United States.

OISEAU-MOUCHE ANNA, Ornismya Anna, Less. Traite dā€™Ornith., P. 281.

ANNA HUMMING-BIRD, Trochilus Anna, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. v. p. 238.

Male, 3 10/12, wing, 2 1/12.

Rocky Mountains towards California. Common. Migratory.