FAM. I. THRUSHES, liLUEBIBDS, ETC. 



55 



Wheatear 



head, upper tail coverts and basal half of the tail feathers are 

 white, the rest of the tail black. Female similar, but duller 

 and browner. Young 

 with much cinuamon- 

 browu and without the 

 cheek stripe. (Stone- 

 chat.) 



Length, 6} ; wing, 4 

 (33-41) ; tail, 2' ; tarsus, 

 1 ; culmen, h. An Old 

 World species breeding in 

 Labrador and straggling 

 southward to the United 

 States (Maine, Long Is- 

 land, New Orleans). 



9. Bluebird (766. Si- 

 d,Ua siilUs). — A very 

 common, small, blue-backed, chestnut-breasted, white-bellied 

 bird. The female is more of a grayish-blue. Till the introduc- 

 tion of the English sparrow, this bird was to 

 be found everywhere around our homes. Its 

 sweet, joyous singing welcomed in the spring, 

 and its sadder notes of autumn told of 

 the dying year. From southern Kew 

 York and Illinois southAvard, it is to be 

 found throughout the year. In the 

 northern portion of its winter range 

 a few can generally be found liv- 

 ing near cedar groves. 



Length, 6»; wing, 4 (3|-4i) ; tail, 

 2 1 ; culmen, },. From the Rocky 

 Mountains eastward throughout the 

 Tnited States, north to Ontario. The 

 Mountain Bluebird (768. Sialia 

 drctica), a large bird without chest- 

 _, , . , nut on the breast, and with a more 



greenish-blue on the back, has been 

 occasionally seen east of the Rocky Mountains. 



