SAXICOLIDJ': — TUK SAXICOLAri. Q'j 



Sialia arctica, Swains. 



EOCKY MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD. 



Erythraca (Sialia) arctica, Sw.^iNs. F. R. A. II, 1831, 209, jil. .\xxix. Rinlia arclica, 

 NuTTALL, Man. II, 1832, 573. — B.\ir,D, IJirds N. Am. 1858, 224 ; Rev. 64. — Sclater, 

 Catal. 18(il, 11, 110. ()7. — DUESSER, Ibi.s, 1865, 478. (Tp.xus, wiutc-r, very abuudaut.) 

 — Cooper, Birds Cal. I, 29. Sialia macropkm, Bairb, Stansbury's Kept. 1852, 314 

 (larger race with longer wings). 



Sr. Char. Gi-eeni.sh azuro-blue aliove and liulow, 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. Leagth, 6.25; wing, 4.36; tail, 3.00. 

 (1S75.) 



Young. Male birds arc 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 ill sialU. 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- 

 livdwn edges to tlie feathers, this most conspicuous on the breast, where 

 tlie 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 I'ichardson, at Fort Franklin, in July, 1825. It is 

 abundant throughout tlie 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 tlie latter State it is not common. 



iVIr. Xuttall met with this species in the early part of June, northwest of 

 Laramie Fork. The female uttered a low complaint when her nest M'as 

 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 hatche<l. The nest was composed of dried grasses, but in very insig- 

 nificant quantity. Mr. Nuttall found them much more shy than the com- 

 mon 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 nneasy at his approach, chirping, and at intervals 

 uttering a plaintive cry. He states that the male bird has a more plaintive 



