Genus XLIII. SYLVIA. WARBLER. 



Species I. S. STALIS. 



BLUE-BIRD. 



[Plate III. Fig. 3.] 



Le Rouge gorge bleu, Boffon, v., 212, PL Enl. 390. — Blue-Warbler, Lath, ii., 446. 

 — Catesb. I., 47. — Motacilla sialis, Linn. Syst. 336. — Bartram, p 29L* 



The pleasing manners and sociable disposition of this little bird enti- 

 tle bim to particular notice. As one of the first messengers of spring, 

 bringing the charming tidings to our very doors, he bears his own 

 recommendation always along with him, and meets with a hearty wel- 

 come from everybody. 



Though generally accounted a bird of passage, yet so early as the 

 middle of February, if the weather be open, he usually makes his ap- 

 pearance about his old haunts, the barn, orchard and fenceposts. 

 Storms and deep snows sometimes succeeding, he disappears for a time ; 

 but about the middle of March is again seen, accompanied by his mate, 

 visiting the box in the garden, or the hole in the old apple-tree, the 

 cradle of some generations of his ancestors. " When he first begins his 

 amours," says a curious and correct observer, "it is pleasing to behold 

 his courtship, his solicitude to please and to secure the favor of his 

 beloved female. He uses the tenderest expressions, sits close by her, 

 caresses and sings to her his most endearing warblings. When seated 

 together, if he espies an insect delicious to her taste, he takes it up, 

 flies with it to her, spreads his wing over her and puts it in her 

 mouth."f If a rival makes his appearance (for they are ardent in 

 their loves), he quits her in a moment, attacks and pursues the intruder, 

 as he shifts from place to place, in tones that bespeak the jealousy of 

 his affection, conducts him with many reproofs beyond the extremities 

 of his territory, and returns to warble out his transports of triumph 

 beside his beloved mate. The preliminaries being thus settled, and the 

 spot fixed on, they begin to clean out the old nest, and the rubbish of 



* Motacilla sialis, Linn. Syst. i., p. 187, Ed. 10. — Gmel. Syst. i., p. 989. — Sylvia 

 sialis. Lath. Ind. Orn. ii., .522. — Vieillot, Ois. de V Aw.. Sept. pi. 101, male; 102, 

 female ; 103, young. — La Gorge rouge de la Caroline, Buff. PI. Enl. 396, fig. 1, 

 male ; fig. 2, female. 



f Letter from Mr. William Bartram to the author. 



(159) 



