628 HISTORY OF THE 



HABITAT. The whole of wooded temperate North America; 

 south in winter to the southern border of the United States; 

 breeding from the northern United States and southern Colo- 

 rado, in the Kocky Mountains, northward. (Largely a resident 

 within its breeding limits.) 



SP. CHAR. Male adult: Upper parts leaden blue (brighter than in 8. car- 

 olinenm), the central tail feathers the same; wings fuscous, with slight ashy 

 edgings, and concealed white bases of the primaries. Entire under parts rusty 

 brown; very variable in shade, from rich fulvous to brownish white, usually 

 t palest on the throat, deepest on the sides and crissum; tail feathers, except the 

 middle pair, black, the lateral marked with white. Whole top and sides of head 

 and neck glossy black, that of the side appearing as a broad bar through the 

 eye from bill to side of neck, cut off from that of the crown by a long, white 

 superciliary stripe, which meets its fellow across the forehead. Bill dark plumbe- 

 ous, paler below. Feet plumbeous brown. Female: Crown like the back; lat- 

 eral stripe on the head merely blackish. The under parts average paler than 

 those of the male, but there is no constancy about this. Young birds resemble 

 the female. (Coues.) 



Stretch of 

 Length. -wing. Wing. Tail. Tarsus. Bill. 



Male 4.60 8.40 2.65 1.50 .60 .60 



Female... 4.30 8.20 2.55 1.35 .60 .55 



Iris dark brown; bill slaty black, with base of under bluish; 

 legs, feet and claws brown. (My notes of a specimen shot in 

 May show legs and feet dull greenish yellow; claws light 

 brown.) 



These birds, in their general habits and actions, are similar to 

 the White-breasted, but usually move about from tree to tree in 

 small, straggling flocks, uttering, and often repeating, a rather 

 sharp, wiry note. They are quite common within their north- 

 ern range, but rather rare southward. Mr. H. W. Henshaw 

 gives the following description of their nesting habits, nests and 

 eggs: 



"In the pine woods near Fort Garland, southern Colorado, 

 I found it breeding in June, and, though less abundant than 

 either the Pigmy or Slender-billed varieties, it was still by no 

 means rare. Its habits, while differing in no notable degree 

 from those of its allies, are possessed of even more of the energy 

 and restless activity which belong to the whole tribe; and at 

 this, the nesting season, the males especially were busy from 

 morning till night, roving about among the pines and aspens, 



