80 CHARACTERS OF SIALIA MEXICANA 



song is melody without great power ; delightful modulation 

 without exhibition of the highest art : it is sweet and charming, 

 lacking great force, yet with a touch of such nervous quality 

 that more is left to the imagination than is revealed. Like the 

 sunshine of the days when the year is young, and nature seems 

 to pause to gather strength for her intended triumphs, this melt- 

 ing music of the Bluebird is full of delicious languor and dreamy 

 voluptuousness, suggesting the possibilities of all things, ex- 

 pressing the realities of none. It is a promise and a pledge of 

 the future, like the unconscious yearning of a maiden for what 

 she knows not. 



Western or Mexican ISluebird 



Sialia mexicana 



Slalia mcxlcana, S./i-R.VBK. n. 1831, 202.— Bp. C. & GL. 1838, 16.- Gamb. Pr. Phila. Acad. iii. 

 1846, 113 (California).— Ga?re6. Journ. Phila. Acad. i. 1847, 37.— Scl. PZS. 1856, 293 (Cor- 

 dova).— 5ci. PZS. 1857, 126 (Califoruia).— Brf. BNA. 18.'58,223.— /ScZ. PZS. 1859, 235 (Van- 

 couver).— Sc?. PZS. 1859, 362 (Xalnpa.).— Henry. Pr. Phila. Acad. li. 1859, 106 (New- 

 Mexico).— A'aw<»s, Pr. Phila. Acad. xi. ]8^9, 190 (California).— Heerm. PRRR. x. 1859, 

 iS.—Kenn. PRRR. x. 1859, 23.-0. ff S. NHWT. 1860, 173.— Bd. Ivea'g Rep. pt. v. 1861, 

 5.— Bd. Rev. AB. 1864, 63.-00(668, Ibis, i^. 1865, 163 (Arizona). — Ooues, Pr. Phila. Acad, 

 xviii. 1866, 66 (Fort Whipple, AT\z.). — Coues, Pr. Phila. Acad. xx. 1868, 82 (Arizona).— 

 Brown, Ibis, iv^. 1868, 420 (Vancouver).— Cooy. Am. Nat. iii. 1869, 32, lS5.—Sumick. Mem. 

 Boat. Soc. i. 1869, 544 (Vera Cr\iz).—Ooop. Pr. Gala. Acad. 1870, 75 (Colorado River).— 

 Coop. B. Gal. i. 1870, 28.— Coop. Am. Nat. iv. 1871, 758.— Aiken, Pr. Bost. Soc. xv. 1872, 

 194 (Colorado).— ^ZZe/t, Bull. MCZ. iii. 1872, 174 (Colorado).— Oowes, Key, 1872, 76.— 

 Aiken, Am. Nat. vii. 1873, 16.— Coop. Am. Nat. viii. 1874. 16.— Ooues. BNW. 1874, 14; 

 Trippe, ibid. 229.— Bd. Br. 6fRy. NAB. i. 1874, 65, pi. 5, f. 2.— Yarr. ^ Hensh. Rep. Orn. 

 Specs. 1874, 7.— Hensh. ibid ^8.— Nelson, Pr. Bost. Soc. xvii. 1875, 3b6.— Hensh. List B. 

 Ariz. 1875, \5i.— Hensh. Zool. Expl. W. 100 Merid. 1876, 161. 



Slalta OCeidcntaliS, Towjts. Journ. Phila. Acad. vii. 18.37, 188 (Columbia River).— ^jii. B A. 

 ii. 1841, 176, pi. \\i5.—NuU. Man. i. 2d ed. 1840, Z\3.— Woodh. Sitgreave's Rep. 1853, 68.— 

 Henry, Pr. Phila. Acad. vii. 1855, 310 (Nevy Mexico).— A'ewi. PRRR. vi. 1857, 8^. 



Sylvia occidentaUs, Aud. OB. v. 1839, 41, pi. 393. 



Sialia caeruleocoUis, Vigors, Zool. Voy. Blossom, 1839, 18, pi. 3. 



Western Bluebird, .Mexican Bluebird, Vulg. 



Hab. — United States aud Mexico, from the Eastern foothills of the Rocky 

 Mountains to the Pacific. North to Vancouver. East occasionally to Iowa. 



Ch. sp. — $ Supra, cum capite toto ct giila, azurea; dorso medio, 

 pectore later ihiisque castarieis; ventre medio et crisso griseocwru- 

 lescentibus. $ Griseo-azurea, dorso medio riifescente, alis, uropy- 

 gio cauddque cceruleis, pectore later ibusque griseorujis, gula, 

 ventre crissoqiie griseo-ccerulescentihus. 



^, adult: Rich azure-blue, including the head and neck all around. A 

 patch of purplish-chestnut on the middle of the back ; breast and sides rich 

 chestnut; belly and vent dull blue or bluish-gray. Bill and feet black. 

 Size of the last species. 



