182 TEXAS AND ARIZONA 



moreover, was not quite the same as that of our 

 common Eastern Sialia. 



Whatever they were, the color of the backs 

 would probably be enough to name them, and I 

 returned to the car for breakfast and, first of 

 all, to make sure of my new birds' identity. A 

 consultation of the handbook showed it to be 

 reasonably certain that they were of the sub- 

 species Sialia mexicana bairdi, the chestnut- 

 backed bluebird ; but I had failed to observe one 

 important mark: the throat should have been 

 "purplish blue." I wished very much to see 

 them again, but they had disappeared. Doubt- 

 less they were migrants or stragglers, and by 

 this time were far away. A pity I had not been 

 more painstaking while I had the opportunity. 

 The one safe rule is to note everything, though 

 it is a rule more easily laid down than lived up 

 to, to be sure, especially in a new place, with 

 many distractions. Anyhow, the birds must be 

 of the chestnut-backed sub-species, I reassured 

 myself, for the sufficient reason that it was im- 

 possible, here in western Texas, that they should 

 be anything else. 



Allaying my scruples thus, I started across a 

 field toward a farmhouse, and on the way noticed 

 a crow flying over. It was the first one I had 

 seen since reaching San Antonio, the chapar- 



