^26 Birds of Colorado 



Wheatear. Saxicola cenanthe. 



A.O.U. Checklist no 765— Colorado Records — Minot 80, p. 224 ; 

 Cooke 97, p. 125 ; Henderson 09, p. 242. 



Description. — Male — Above plain ashy, black on the wings and 

 terminal third of the tail ; basal two-thirds of tail, except the middle 

 feathers, white ; forehead, a superciliary line and upper tail-coverts 

 white ; below pinky-buff, becoming white posteriorly ; iris brown, 

 bill and legs black. Length 6-0 ; wing 3-75 ; tail 1-75 ; culmen -55 ; 

 tarsus 1-05. 



The female is duller in colour than the male, and the black is replaced 

 by dusky. In the winter the upper-parts are brown, the wings have 

 lighter edgings, the under-parts are rusty-buff, and the head has no 

 distinct streaks. 



Distribution. — Breeding in northern Europe and Asia and across 

 Bering Strait to Alaska ; wintering in East Africa and India. 



The Wheatear was met with by Minot at Boulder on May 14th, 

 1880. Minot does not specifically say that he obtained the bird, he 

 merely writes " One specimen at Boulder," and it is possible he may 

 have been mistaken, as it has not been taken in western America before 

 or since. Ridgway doubtfully assigns this record to the Greenland 

 Wheatear (S. oe. leucorhoa) which breeds in Labrador, and has recently 

 been taken in eastern Canada and New York State. 



Genus SIALIA. 



Bill straight and rather stout ; wings very long and pointed, over 

 five times the length of the tarsus, the outer primary short and 

 not extending beyond the primary coverts ; tail much shorter than 

 "the wing, ertiarginate ; plumage always with a good deal of blue, not 

 spotted except in the young bird. 



A genus of three species, confined to America ; three species in the 

 United States. 



Key of the Species. 



A. Head bright blue. 



a. Blue above and below, no chestnut. S. currucoides, c? p. 529. 



b. Blue above, throat and chest chestnut. S. sialis, c? p. 527. 



c. Blue above and on the throat, chestnut across the back and 



breast. S. m. bairdi, <? p. 527. 



B. Head brownish to dull grey-blue. 



a. Throat cinnamon like the chest. S. sialis, ? p. 527 



b. Throat grey, only the chest cinnamon. S. m. bairdi, ? p. 527. 



c. No cinnamon, below pale grey and white. 



S. currucoides, ? p. 529 



