FAMILY TiirdidcB 



vantage point it watches for small insects on 

 the ground beneath, dropping into the grass 

 with a dainty flick of the wings, a characteris- 

 tic of the family. 



The song, or call note, of the bluebird is a 

 gentle, warbling trually, trually, trually. It is 

 so distinctive as to be a positive identification 

 of the species, even when the bluebird is 

 flying high overhead, and so far away as not 

 to be distinguished in any other way. 



The western bluebird, in common with 

 other bluebirds, builds its nest in natural 

 cavities in trees, old woodpeckers' holes and 

 in cracks and crannies about outbuildings. 

 It is also one of the easiest of birds to attract 

 to bird boxes, and if undisturbed will return 

 to the same locality year after year. 



While the bluebird is highly migratory in 

 most of its range many individuals often 

 remain to winter in the protected valleys of 

 the Pacific Slope. 



Mountain bluebird, Sialia curru- 

 coides. 7.25 



Distribution: Mountain districts of wes- 

 tern North America, breeding from Alaska 

 south to the mountains of Arizona, New 

 Mexico and northern Mexico, east to Wyom- 

 ing and Texas, west to the Cascades and 

 4 



