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In the Middle States, with every mild winter’s day, the Bluebirds come out from their retreats, and again disappear on the return of severer weather. Later in the season, or early in March, they return and make a permanent stay.

When well treated, as the Bluebirds almost universally are, they return year after year to the same box, coming always in pairs. The marked attentions of the male bird are very striking, and have been noticed by all our writers. He is very jealous of a rival, driving off every intruder of his own species who ventures upon the domain he calls his own. Occasionally the pair suffer great annoyance from vexatious interferences with their domestic arrangements by the house wren, who unceremoniously enters their homestead, despoils it of its carefully selected materials, and departs. At other times the wren will take possession of the premises and barricade the entrance, making the return of its rightful owners impossible.

The song of the Bluebirds is a low warble, soft and agreeable, repeated with great constancy and earnestness, and prolonged until quite late in the season. Just before their departure, late in October, the sprightliness of their song nearly ceases, and only a few plaintive notes are heard instead.

The food of the Bluebird consists principally of the smaller coleopterous insects, also of the larvæ of the smaller lepidoptera. In the early spring they are very busy turning over the dry leaves, examining the trunks and branches of trees, or ransacking posts and fences for the hiding-places of their prey. In the fall their food partakes more of a vegetable character.

The Bluebird selects as a suitable place for its nest a hollow in the decayed trunk of a tree, or boxes prepared for its use. Their early arrival enables them to select their own site. The nest is loosely constructed of soft materials, such as fine grasses, sedges, leaves, hair, feathers, etc. These are rarely so well woven together as to bear removal. The eggs are usually five and sometimes six in number. There are usually three broods in a season. Before the first brood are able to provide for themselves, the female repairs her nest and commences incubation for a second family. The young birds are, however, by no means left to shift for themselves. The male bird now shows himself as devoted a parent as in the earlier spring he had proved himself an attentive mate. He watches over the brood even after the second family appears and claims his attention. We often find him dividing his cares in the latter part of the season with two broods, and at the same time supplying his mate with food, and occasionally taking her place on the nest.

The eggs of the Bluebird are of a uniform pale blue, measuring about .81 of an inch in length by .62 in breadth.

In Guatemala is found a local race differing in its lighter under colors and in the greenish tinting of its blue (S. azurea). The S. sialis is also found in the more open districts of the elevated regions where it is numerous. It is there known as “El azulejo.”

Sialia mexicana, Swains

CALIFORNIA BLUEBIRD

Sialia mexicana, Sw. F. B. Am. II, 1831, 202.—Sclater, P. Z. S. 1856, 293 (Cordova): 1857, 126 (California); 1859, 362 (Xalapa).—Ib. Catal. 1861, 11, No. 66.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 223; Review, 63.—Cooper & Suckley, P. R. R. XII, II, 1859, 173.—Cooper, Birds Cal. 1, 28. Sialia occidentalis, Towns., Aud.; Sialia cæruleocollis, Vigors.

Figures: Aud. B. A. II, pl. cxxxv.—Ib. Orn. Biog. V, pl. cccxciii.—Vigors, Zoöl. Beechey’s, Voy. 1839, pl. iii.

Sp. Char. Bill slender. Head and neck all round, and upper parts generally bright azure blue. Interscapular regions, sides and fore part of the breast, and sides of the belly, dark reddish-brown. Rest of under parts (with tail-coverts) pale bluish, tinged with gray about the anal region. Female duller above; the back brownish; the blue of the throat replaced by ashy-brown, with a shade of blue. Length, 6.50; wing, 4.25; tail, 2.90.

Young. Tail and wing as in adult; head, neck, back, and breast, dull brown; each feather, except on the crown, streaked centrally with white.

Hab. Western United States, from the Rocky Mountains to Pacific. Not noticed on the Missouri plains, Central British America, or at Cape St. Lucas. Found at Xalapa and Cordova, Mex., Sclater. Popocatapetl (Alpine region), Sumichrast.

As in the others, the colors of this species are much duller in fall and winter. No. 53,319, ♂ (Carson City, Nevada, Feb. 21) differs from others in the following respects: there is hardly any chestnut on the back, there being only just a tinge along each side of the interscapular region; that on the breast is interrupted in the middle, and thrown into a patch on each side of the breast, thus connecting the blue of the throat and abdomen; the blue of the throat is unusually deep.

Habits. This Bluebird belongs to western North America, its proper domain being between the Rocky Mountains and Pacific, from Mexico to Washington Territory. Mr. Nuttall first met with this species among the small rocky prairies of the Columbia. He speaks of its habits as exactly similar to those of the common Bluebird. The male is equally tuneful throughout the breeding-season, and his song is also very similar. Like the common species he is very devoted to his mate, alternately feeding and caressing her and entertaining her with his song. This is a little more varied, tender, and sweet than that of the Eastern species, and differs in its expressions.

Nuttall describes this as an exceedingly shy bird, so much so that he found it very difficult to obtain a sight of it. This he attributes to the great abundance of birds of prey. Afterwards, in the vicinity of the village of Santa Barbara, Mr. Nuttall again saw them in considerable numbers, when they were tame and familiar.

Dr. Cooper states that these Bluebirds seem to prefer the knot-holes of the oaks to the boxes provided for them. He does not confirm Mr. Nuttall’s description of its song, which he regards as neither so loud nor so sweet as that of the Eastern species. He describes it as a curious performance, sounding as if two birds were singing at once and in different keys.

Many of this species remain in Washington Territory during the winter, where Dr. Cooper met with them in December. They associated in flocks, frequented roadsides and fences, and fed upon insects and berries.

Dr. Gambel found this species throughout the Rocky Mountains, and always in company with the Sialia arctica, being by far the more abundant species.

Dr. Kennerly mentions finding this species very abundant during his march up the Rio Grande. Through the months of November, December, and January they were always to be seen in large flocks near small streams.

The Western Bluebird constructs a nest usually of very loose materials, consisting chiefly of fine dry grasses. These are not woven into an elaborate nest, but are simply used to line the hollows in which the eggs are deposited. Near San Francisco Mr. Hepburn found a pair making use of the nest of the Hirundo lunifrons. On another occasion the Bluebirds had not only taken possession of the nest of this swallow, but actually covered up two fresh eggs with a lining of dry grasses, and laid her own above them.

The eggs, usually four in number, are of uniform pale blue of a slightly deeper shade than that of the S. sialis. They measure .87 of an inch in length by .69 in breadth.

Dr. Cooper’s subsequent observations of this species in California enabled him to add to his account of it in his report on the birds of that State. He found it abundant in all the wooded districts, except high in the mountains, and thinks they reside through the summer even in the hot valley of the Rio Grande, where he found them preparing a nest in February. On the coast they are numerous as far north as the 49th parallel. He found a nest under the porch of a dwelling-house at Santa Barbara, showing that, like our Eastern species, they only need a little encouragement to become half domesticated. They raise two broods in a season, the first being hatched early in April.

At Santa Cruz he found them even more confiding than the Eastern species, building their nests even in the noisiest streets. One brood came every day during the grape season, at about noon, to pick up grape-skins thrown out by his door, and was delightfully tame, sitting fearlessly within a few feet of the open window.

In regard to their song Mr. Ridgway states that he did not hear, even during the pairing season, any note approaching in sweetness, or indeed similar to, the joyous spring warble which justly renders our Eastern Bluebird (S. sialis) so universal a favorite.

The two Western species of Sialia, though associating during the winter in the region along the eastern base of the Sierra Nevada, are seldom seen together during the breeding-season; the S. arctica returning to the higher portions of the thinly wooded desert mountains, while the S. mexicana remains in the lower districts, either among the cottonwoods of the river valleys or among the pines around the foot-hills of the Sierra.

Sialia arctica, Swains

ROCKY MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD

Erythraca (Sialia) arctica, Swains. F. B. A. II, 1831, 209, pl. xxxix. Sialia arctica, Nuttall, Man. II, 1832, 573.—Baird, Birds N. Am. 1858, 224; Rev. 64.—Sclater, Catal. 1861, 11, No. 67.—Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 478. (Texas, winter, very abundant.)—Cooper, Birds Cal. 1, 29. Sialia macroptera, Baird, Stansbury’s Rept. 1852, 314 (larger race with longer wings).

Sp. Char. Greenish azure-blue above and below, brightest above; the belly and under tail-coverts white; the latter tinged with blue at the ends. Female showing blue only on the rump, wings, and tail; a white ring round the eye; the lores and sometimes a narrow front whitish; elsewhere replaced by brown. Length, 6.25; wing, 4.36; tail, 3.00. (1875.)

Young. Male birds are streaked with white, as in S. sialis, on the characteristic ground of the adult.

Hab. Central table-lands of North America, east to mouth of Yellowstone. One individual collected at Fort Franklin, Great Bear Lake. Not common on the Pacific slope; the only specimens received coming from Simiahmoo, Fort Crook, and San Diego. Not recorded as found in Mexico. W. Arizona, Coues.

As already stated, the blue of this species is greener, more smalt-like than in sialis. The females are distinguished from those of the other species by the greener blue, entire absence of rufous, and longer wings.

In autumn and winter the blue of the male is much soiled by amber-brown edges to the feathers, this most conspicuous on the breast, where the blue is sometimes almost concealed; the plumage of the female, too, at this season is different from that of spring, the anterior lower parts being soft isabella-color, much less grayish than in spring.

Habits. This Bluebird belongs chiefly to the Central fauna, and occupies a place in the Eastern only by its appearance on its borders. It was first procured by Sir John Richardson, at Fort Franklin, in July, 1825. It is abundant throughout the central table-lands of North America, between the Pacific and the mouth of the Yellowstone, from Great Bear Lake to the lower portions of California. In the latter State it is not common.

Mr. Nuttall met with this species in the early part of June, northwest of Laramie Fork. The female uttered a low complaint when her nest was approached. This was constructed in a hole in a clay cliff. Another was found in the trunk of a decayed cedar. In one of these the young were already hatched. The nest was composed of dried grasses, but in very insignificant quantity. Mr. Nuttall found them much more shy than the common species, and describes them as feeding in very nearly the same manner. He afterwards found a nest of the same species in a cliff of the Sandy River, a branch of the Colorado. Both parents were feeding their brood. The female was very uneasy at his approach, chirping, and at intervals uttering a plaintive cry. He states that the male bird has a more plaintive and monotonous song than that of the common Bluebird, and that it has the same warbling tone and manner. He afterwards observed the same species in the winter, at Fort Vancouver, associating with the Western Bluebird.

Dr. Woodhouse found the Arctic Bluebird quite common in the vicinity of Santa Fé, in New Mexico, where they breed about the houses in boxes put up for them by the inhabitants for the purpose.

Mr. Townsend found this species in the vicinity of the Platte River, near the Black Hills, and also on the banks of the Columbia. They confined themselves to the fences in the neighborhood of settlements, occasionally lighting upon the ground and scratching for minute insects. He describes their song as a delightful warble. Its notes resemble those of the common Bluebird, but are so different as to be easily recognized; they are equally sweet and clear, but have much less power.

Neither Dr. Gambel nor Dr. Heermann found this species in California excepting during the winter, and were of the opinion that none remain there to breed.

Dr. Kennerly observed them at different points among the Rocky Mountains, where they frequented the vicinity of his camp early in the morning, at some times in pairs and at others in flocks of four or five.

Mr. J. K. Lord states that he found this Bluebird very abundant between the Cascades and the Rocky Mountains, where they arrive in June and leave in September. After nesting they assembled in large flocks, and fed on the open plains.

The eggs are of a very light blue, paler than those of the other species. They measure .89 of an inch in length by .66 in breadth.

Mr. Ridgway states that he found the Rocky Mountain Bluebird nesting in Virginia City in June. Its nests were built about the old buildings, and occasionally in the unused excavations about the mines. At Austin he also found it common in July, in similar localities. On the East Humboldt Mountains it was very numerous, especially on the more elevated portions, where it nested among the rocks and, though more rarely, in the deserted excavations of woodpeckers in the stunted piñon and cedar trees. He describes it as generally very shy and difficult to obtain, seldom permitting a very near approach. In its habits it is much less arboreal than either S. mexicana or S. sialis, always preferring the open mountain portions in the higher ranges of the Great Basin.

In regard to its notes Mr. Ridgway says: “The common note of this species would, from its character, be at once recognized as that of a Bluebird. Its autumnal note, however, lacks entirely the peculiar plaintiveness so characteristic of that of our Eastern species, and is much more feeble, consisting of a simple weak chirp. Like the S. mexicana, the S. arctica was also never heard to give utterance to anything resembling the lovely spring warbling of the S. sialis.”

Family SYLVIIDÆ.—The Sylvias

Char. Bill much shorter than head, slender, broad, and depressed at the base, distinctly notched and decurved at the tip. Culmen sharp-ridged at base. Frontal feathers reaching to the nostrils, which are oval, with membrane above, and overhung—not concealed—by a few bristles or by a feather. Rictal bristles extending beyond nostrils. Tarsi booted or scutellate. Basal joint of middle toe attached its whole length externally, half-way internally. Primaries ten; spurious primary about half the second, which is shorter than the seventh. Lateral toes equal.

The birds of this family are readily distinguished from the Paridæ by the slender bill, notched and decurved at tip; much bristled gape, sharp-ridged culmen, exposed oval nostrils, less adherent toes, etc. They are much smaller than the Turdidæ and Saxicolidæ, with much more slender, depressed bill, longer rictal bristles, etc. The short outer primary, with the primaries ten in number, distinguish them from the Sylvicolidæ.

The following synopsis will serve to characterize the American forms of their respective subfamilies. The species are all among the most diminutive in size with the exception of the Humming-Birds:—

A. Wings longer than the nearly even and emarginate tail. Scutellæ of tarsus scarcely or not at all appreciable. General color olivaceous above. No white on tail.

Nostrils naked. Scutellæ distinct on inner face of tarsus only. Head plain … Sylviinæ.

Nostrils overhung by bristly feathers. Scutellæ of tarsus not appreciable. Head with a colored central crest … Regulinæ.

B. Wings about equal to the graduated tail. Tarsal scutellæ distinct. Above bluish; tail with white spots or patches.

Nostrils uncovered. Head plain; either bluish or black above … Polioptilinæ.

Subfamily SYLVIINÆ

Char. Size and form of Sylvicolinæ, but with a spurious first primary about one third the second quill. Wings considerably longer than the nearly even or emarginate tail. Feathers of frontal region with bristly points; but not covering the nostrils. Tarsi scutellate anteriorly, but indistinct externally. (Characters drawn with reference to the American form.)

The introduction of this subfamily into the present work is required to accommodate a species of Phyllopneuste collected on the Yukon by the Russian Telegraph Expedition, the first known instance of the existence in North America of a group of birds characteristic of the northern parts of the Old World. Among the smallest of the class, they are eminently sociable, and feed entirely on insects, which they capture mostly on the wing, like flycatchers. The nest is placed on the ground, and is of an oval or spherical form with a round opening on one side. The sexes are similar, and the young differ very little from the parents.

Genus PHYLLOPNEUSTE, Meyer & Wolf

Phyllopneuste, Meyer & Wolf, Taschenbuch, 1822.—Degland et Gerbe, Ornith. Europ. I, 1867, 543.

Phyllopneuste borealis.

45909

Gen. Char. Bill shorter than the head; straight, slender, and depressed, notched at tip. Nostrils open. Tarsi lengthened; exceeding the middle toe; scutellate anteriorly, but with the plates indistinct, claws short, much curved. Wings pointed, longer than tail, and reaching at least to its middle; spurious quill extending farther than the upper covert. Tail emarginate. Olivaceous above; yellowish or whitish beneath.

Phyllopneuste borealis.

For the purpose of distinguishing this genus from any other North American, it is enough to say that, of the general appearance of the warblers, it has a short spurious first primary, as in the Thrushes, and some Vireonidæ. The single species found as yet within our limits resembles at first sight an immature Dendroica æstiva, but is easily distinguished by the wing formula, the yellowish stripe over the eye, and the brown tail-feathers.

Phyllopneuste borealis, Blas

ALASKA WILLOW WARBLER

Phyllopneuste borealis, Blas. Ibis, 1862, 69. Phyllopneuste, Kenn., Baird, Trans. Chicago Acad. Sci. I, ii, p. 313, pl. xxx, fig. 2, 1869.

Sp. Char. (Description of specimen No. 45,909.) Plumage in August: above olive-green, with a slight shade of brown on top of head, rather lighter behind; beneath white, tinged with greenish-yellow; more olive on the throat and breast; and more yellow behind, inside the wing and on thighs; axillars purer yellow. A well-marked greenish-yellow line from nostrils over the eye to the nape (extending behind the eye nearly as far as from eye to tip of bill), beneath this an olivaceous streak through the eye, running into the mixed olive and yellowish of the cheeks. Quills and tail-feathers brown, edged with olivaceous; the outer edges of primaries more yellowish than those of secondaries; the greater coverts tipped externally with greenish-yellow, so as to form a distinct band across the wing. Bill rather dark brown; paler beneath. Legs dark olive; toes not sensibly different. Nest probably on ground, and domed. Eggs white, spotted with pink.

Spurious quill in length about one fourth the second, which about equals the sixth, or very slightly exceeds it; third and fourth longest; fifth a little shorter.

Dimensions (fresh specimen before being skinned): total length, 4.75; expanse of wings, 6.00; wing from carpal joint, 2.50.

Dimensions (prepared specimen): total length, 4.60; wing, 2.40; tail, 2.00. Exposed portion of first primary, 0.42; of second, 1.56; of longest (measured from exposed base of first primary), 1.85. Bill: length from above, 0.38; from nostril, 0.29; along gape, 1.55. Legs: tarsus, 0.66; middle toe and claw, 0.55; claw alone, 0.16; hind toe and claw, 0.36; claw alone, 0.20.

Hab. Northeast Asia (China, East Siberia); adjacent to Behring’s Straits and Alaska.

This species, in general appearance, apparently comes nearer to P. trochilus than to any other of its congeners. It is, however, more olivaceous-green above, and more yellow beneath, and has a distinct band across the wing. The superciliary light stripe is more distinct and longer; the bill and legs are darker, and the toes not sensibly different in color from the tarsus. The proportion of the quills is much the same, except that the interval between the tips of the fifth and sixth quills is greater, and the second is almost inappreciably longer than the latter, not reaching nearly midway between the two. The first or spurious quill is rather shorter.

A single specimen of this species was obtained August 16, 1866, on St. Michael’s Island, in Norton Sound, Alaska, by Mr. Charles Pease. Mr. Bannister met with no other specimen in that locality, and from this it is inferred that this is not an abundant species there. It was described as a new species under the name of P. kennicottii (Baird), but has been ascertained by Mr. Tristram, to whom it was sent for examination, (Ibis, 1871, p. 231,) to be identical with P. borcalis of Blasius.

Dr. Blasius also states (Naumannia, 1858, p. 303) that a specimen of this species has been obtained on the island of Heligoland, showing it to be also an accidental visitant to Western Europe.

Habits. Mr. R. Swinhoe, who describes this among the birds of Formosa as P. sylvicultrix, states it to be a summer visitant to Southern China, passing in large numbers through Amoy in its autumnal migrations southeastward, probably to the Philippine Islands, touching at Southwestern Formosa and Twaiwanfoo, where he found them abundant. This was for a few days in October, but he neither saw any before nor afterwards, nor did he meet with any at Tamsuy (Ibis, 1863, p. 307). The same writer (Ibis, 1860, p. 53) speaks of this bird as very abundant in Amoy during the months of April and May, but passing farther north to breed.

We have no information in reference to its habits, and nothing farther in regard to its distribution. As it bears a very close resemblance to the Willow Wren of Europe, P. trochilus, it is quite probable that its general habits, nest, and eggs will be found to correspond very closely with those of that bird.

The European warblers of the genus Phyllopneuste are all insect-eating birds, capturing their prey while on the wing, and also feeding on their larvæ. They frequent the woodlands during their breeding-season, but at all other times are much more familiar, keeping about dwellings and sheepfolds.

The P. trochilus is a resident throughout the entire year in Southern Europe and in Central Asia. That species builds at the foot of a bush on the ground, and constructs a domed nest with the entrance on one side. Their eggs are five in number, have a pinkish-white ground, and are spotted with well-defined blotches of reddish-brown, measuring 0.65 by 0.50 inch, and are of a rounded oval shape.