THE MOUNTAIN BLUEBIRD. 



{Sialia arctica.) 



The exquisite coloring of the Arctic Blueb 

 of all the lovely bluebirds. — Florence Merriam 



No bird can be more attractive than 

 this gentle, sweet tempered and shy Blue- 

 bird of the mountains. Loving the light, 

 bracing air and the quiet forests of the 

 mountain side, it is rarely seen upon the 

 lowlands, but is abundant from the plains 

 up to timber-line. ■ In some localities it 

 has been known to go above the point 

 at which timber growth ceases, and it has 

 been observed at an elevation of 13,000 

 feet. 



The Mountain Bluebird very closely 

 resembles its eastern relative, the well 

 known bluebird, Sialia sialis. Its colors, 

 however, are softer and more delicate, 

 and it is not so truly arboreal as is the 

 eastern species. It seeks its food, to a 

 great extent, in the open places while 

 hovering but a short distance above the 

 ground. It possesses a shy and retiring 

 disposition, yet it will accept the hospi- 

 tality of the miner or ranchman, and 

 builds its home in the nesting places that 

 he has provided. The Bluebirds will also 

 build their nests about old buildings ; in 

 suitable places in the vicinity of mines ; 

 in hollow trees ; in the deserted holes of 

 woodpeckers, and in openings and crev- 



ird makes it seem the gentlest, most beautiful 

 Bailey. 



ices in the rocky formations at higher 

 elevations. 



The Mountain Bluebirds feed upon 

 grasshoppers, beetles and other insects, 

 and also upon the seeds of various plants, 

 and cedar berries. A large part of their 

 food is picked up from the ground, and 

 not infrequently it is obtained by scratch- 

 ing among the fallen leaves. 



The song of the Mountain Bluebird is 

 like its own nature, simple and sweet. 

 Dr. Ridgway says : "The common note 

 of this Bluebird would, from its charac- 

 ter, be at once recognized as that of a 

 bluebird. Its autumnal note, however, 

 lacks entirely the peculiar plaintiveness 

 so characteristic of that of our eastern 

 species, and is much more feeble, consist- 

 ing of a single weak chirp. The Sialia 

 arctica was also never heard to give utter- 

 ance to anything resembling the lovely 

 spring warbling of the Sialia sialis/' 



Of this beautiful bird, Mrs. Wheelock 

 has written : "No words can describe his 

 brilliancy in the breeding season, as he 

 flies through the sunny clearings of the 

 higher Sierra Nevada, or sits like a 

 bright blue flower against the dark green 

 of the pines." 



Lo, the last clusters ! pluck them, every one, 

 And let us sup with summer, ere the gleam 

 Of autumn sets the year's pent sorrow free, 

 And the woods wail like echoes from the sea. 



— Rosetti. 



