THE MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD. 259 
fast to the apple-trees or lodged at considerable intervals along the intersecting 
fences. The experimenter finds that more than half of the boxes are occupied 
each season, and he counts the birds of inestimable value in helping to save the 
grapes and apples from the ravages of worms. 
In providing for Bluebird’s comfort, care must be taken to expel cats 
from the premises; or at least to place the box in an inaccessible position. 
English Sparrows, also, must be shot at sight, for the Bluebird, however 
valorous, is no match for a mob. Tree Swallows or Violet-greens may covet 
the nesting-box—your affections are sure to be divided when these last appear 
upon the scene—but the Bluebirds can take care of themselves here. For the 
rest, do not make the box too nice; and above all, do not make it of new lum- 
ber. Nesting birds do not care to be the observed of all observers, and the 
more natural their surroundings, the more at ease your tenants will be. An 
occasional inspection will not be resented, if the Bluebirds know their landlord 
well. There may be some untoward condition to correct,—an overcrowded 
nestling, or the like. At the end of the season the box should be emptied, 
cleaned, and if possible sterilized. 
Two broods are raised in a season, and the species appears to be on the 
increase in the more thickly settled portion of the State. Occidentalis avoids 
the dry sections, and is nowhere common on the east side of the mountains, 
save during migrations. It is, however, regularly found on the timbered 
slopes of the Cascades, the Kalispell Range, and the Blue Mountains, where its 
range inosculates with that of the Mountain Bluebird. There is reason to sup- 
pose that its range will extend with the increase of irrigated territory. West of 
the mountains, per contra, the Bluebird affects the more open country, and es- 
pecially that which has been prepared by fire and the double-bitted axe. 
No. 102. 
MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD. 
A. O. U. No. 768. Sialia currucoides (Bechstein). 
Synonym.—Arcric BLueEpirp. 
Description.—Adult male in summer: Above rich cerulean blue, palest 
(turquoise blue) on forehead, brightest on upper tail-coverts, darkest (sevres 
blue) on lesser wing-coverts ; below pale blue (deepest turquoise) on chest, shading 
on sides of head and neck to color of back, paling on lower belly, crissum and 
under tail-coverts to whitish; exposed tips of flight feathers dusky. Bull and feet 
black; iris dark brown. Adult male in winter: Blue somewhat duller and feathers 
skirted more or less with brownish above and below, notably on hind-neck, upper 
back, breast and sides. Adult female: Like male but paler blue, clear on rump, 
tail and wings only, elsewhere quenched in gray; pileum, hindneck, back and 
