212 BIRDS — SAXICOLIDuE. 



motions, together with his lofty position while singing, render him con- 

 spicuous and familiar. When on his northward migration he steals 

 along cautiously through thickets and undergrowth, frequenting logs, 

 brush heaps, and the banks of streams. At such times he is usually 

 silent and shy, but arrived at his breeding grounds with his mate, he 

 pours fourth his loud and rollicking notes from the tops of the highest 

 trees. He sings sometimes by the hour with a volubility scarcely equalled. 

 Morning and evening are his chosen hours for this exercise. 



His nest is built on the ground, in brush heaps, on stumps, in bushes 

 and trees almost indiscriminately. In the vicincity of Columbus the 

 nest is rarely found on the ground, and then only at the first of the season, 

 when, it would appear, other suitable spots did not furnish sufi&cient con- 

 cealment. Theeggs in these nests are frequently addled. I have never 

 known a brood raised from a nest on the ground. In all cases the soil 

 was cold, clayey and wet. Most commonly the nest is placed in a deep 

 thicket, in the fork of small tree from three to six feet from the ground. 

 The female frequently betrays its location on the approach of man by a sharp 

 mournful " cluck " of alarm and warning. No birds are more brave in 

 defense of their young, following their captor for a long distance with 

 threats of violence accompanied with screams of distress. The nest is 

 large and loosely constructed of leaves and small twigs and lined with 

 leaves, fibres of bark, and rootlets. The eggs are usually Jour, sometimes 

 five, having a ground color varying from white to light blue, thickly and 

 uniformly speckled with reddish brown. They measure 1,05 by .81. 



FAMILY SAXICOLIDiE. BLUEBIRDS. 



Primaries ten. Nostrils exposed, oval. First primary less than one-half the second. 

 Wing long and pointed, reaching, when folded, beyond the middle of the short, square, 

 or emarginate tail, and one and a half times or more the length of the latter ; tip formed 

 by the second, third, and fourth quills ; outer secondary reaching only about two-thirds 

 way to end of longest primary ; spurions quill very short. Tarai booted. 



Genus 8IALIA. Swainson. 



BiU short, stout, somewhat depressed at base, compressed toward tip, slightly 

 notched. Rictus with short bristles. Tarsus about equal middle toe; claws consider- 

 ably curved. Tail emHrginate. 



SiALiA SIALI3 (L.) Halderman. 



Ea«itern Bluebird, 



Saxicola aialis, Kibtland, Ohio Geolog Surv., 1838, 163. 



Sialia vnlaonii, Read, Proc. Philad. Acad. Nat. Soi., vi. 1853, .395. 



