CHAPTER II, 



Family Saxicolidae. Stone-chats and Blue Birds. 



The species comprehended in the above family 

 are chiefly residents of the Old World. It is 

 represented in North America by one European 

 straggler, the White-ear or Stone-chat, which 

 reaches the Atlantic coast via Greenland, and the 

 North Pacific by way of Asia; and the familiar 

 Blue Birds which are placed in the genus Sialia 

 of Swainson. Out of the three species which 

 inhabit this Continent, but one inhabits the United 

 States east of the Rocky Mountains. Of the 

 others one is an Arctic, and the other a Western 

 species. 



Sialia Stalls, Baird. 



The Blue Bird claims more than a passing 

 notice. By its confidence and familiarity it wins 

 our favor and esteem; and few species are more 

 encouraged to build in our yards and orchards. 

 While the Robin and Orioles do immense service 

 in the destruction of numberless insects of inju- 

 rious habits, they offset this good character in a 

 measure, by the mischief which they commit to 

 our fruit-trees in nipping the tender stamens and 

 juicy ovaries of the blossoms, which they relish 

 with apparent satisfaction. Not so with the sub- 

 ject of the present sketch. We can heartily 

 recommend it as the non-possessor of such an 

 unenviable trait. 



