ANDERSON — THK BIRDS OF IOWA. 383 



17th and 19th. A new nest was Iniilt in another paint pail about 

 eighteen inches from the first, the first egg, also white, being laid 

 June 29th; set of four eggs taken July 5th; after which the 

 old birds did not build again but joined the first brood and 

 remained in the neighborhood about two weeks. 



On July 10, 1893, I took a set of three white eggs from a nest 

 in a cavity in a fence post by the side of a much travelled road 

 near Forest City, Iowa. The birds showed no appreciable differ- 

 ence from ordinary Bluebirds. 



353- (767a). Sialia vicxicaiia bairdi Ridgway. Chestnut- 

 backed Bluebird. 



This is a bird of the West and only occurs very rarely as a 

 straggler in Iowa. It has been reported from Iowa as the West- 

 ern Bluebird {Sialia mexicana), by various authorities. Baird 

 Brewer and Ridgway state that the species has been observed in 

 western Iowa by Mr. Atkinson (Birds of N. A., Land Birds, iii, 

 1875, p. 501). Dr. Elliott Coues states: ' "The Western Blue- 

 bird apparently inhabits only a limited area in the southwestern 

 part of the Missouri region. Mr. Ridgway informs me of its 

 occurrence in Iowa, but this must be highly exceptional" (Birds 

 of the N. W., 1874, p. 14). "Stragglers have been recorded 

 from Minnesota and Iowa" (Cooke, Bird Migr. in Miss. Val., 

 p. 294). " Occasion alh^ taken in western Iowa" (Ke5'es and 

 Williams, p. 161). The Chestnut-backed Bluebird is included in 

 the Nebraska list on Aughej-'s record, about seven miles from 

 the mouth of the Niobrara River in August ..." accidental 

 ea.st to Iowa and Minnesota . . . occurring regularly as a migrant 

 along the eastern base of the Rockies " (Rev. Bds. Neb., p. 115). 



George H. Berry writes: " In the spring of 1903, I .saw one 

 bird near Cedar Rapids with a flock of typical sialis that had a 

 blue breast instead of the usual brownish chestnut. Had a good 

 long look at it." 



