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SAXICOLIDiE, BLUEBIRDS. GEN. 5, 6. 



Family SAXICOLIDiE. Stone-chats and Bluebirds. 



Chiefly Old World ; represented in North America by one European straggler and 

 the familiar bluebirds ; authors assign different limits to it, and frequently trans- 

 pose the genera ; it might come under Turdidce 

 without Yiolence. As usually constituted, it 

 contains upwards of one hundred species, com- 

 monly referred to about a dozen genera. Like 

 most other groups of Passeres, it has never been 

 defined with precision, the family being known, 

 conventionally, by the birds ornithologists put 

 in it. The following birds have booted tarsi ; 

 oval nostrils ; bristled rictus ; rather short. 

 Fig. 17. stone-chat; natural size. square Or emargiuate tail; long, pointed wings, 



w-ith very short spurious 1st quill, and the tip formed by the 2d, 3d and 4th quills. 



V^ 



. 5. Genus SAXICOLA Bechstein. 



\ 'j Stone-chat. Wheat-ear. Adult : — ashy gray ; forehead, superciliary line 

 and under parts white, latter often brow^nisb-tinted ; upper tail coverts 

 white, wings and tail black, latter with most of the feathers white for half 

 their length ; line from uostril to eye, and broad band on side of bead, black ; 

 bill and feet black; young everywhere cinnamon-brown, paler below ; wing 

 3J', tail 2J, tarsus 1 ; middle toe and claw f . Atlantic coast, astray from 

 Europe via, Greenland; also, North Pacific Coast, from Asia. Cass., 111., 

 208, pi. 34; Bd., 220, and Rev. 61 cenanthe. 



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V"'' 



6. Genus SIALIA Swainson. 



*ju*More or less hliie : bill and feet black; ? grayish or brownish, with blue 

 traces, especially on rump, wings and tail. Yoimg like the ? , but curiously 

 spotted. 6-7 long, wing 3|-4J-, tail 2|— 3|-, bill J- or less, tarsus |- or less. 



Eastern Bluebird. $ rich sky-blue, uniform above ; below reddish- 

 brown, belly white. Eastern U. S. Wils. i, 56, pi. 3 ; Nuxt. i, 445 ; 

 ii, 171, pi. 134; Bd., 222. .r^>^^\ '.^'^'^ sialis. 



Western Bluehird. $ above, and the throat, deep blue, with a dorsal 

 patch of same color as breast and sides, which are rather darker than in the 

 last species ; belly dull bluish-gray. Rocky Mountains to Pacific. Nutt., 

 i, 513; AuD., ii, 176, pi. 135; Bd., 223; Cooi»., 28. . . . mexicana. 



Arctic Bluebird. $ everywhere clear pale blue, with a faint green 

 shade, paler below, fading into white on belly. Chiefly central region of 

 N. A., from 65° into Mexico; also Pacific coast. Nutt., 514; Aud., ii, 

 178, pi. 136; Bd., 224; Coop., 29 arctica. 



Family CINCLID^. Dippers. 



Aquatic ! thrush-like birds (formerly included under Ticrdidoi) , with thickset 

 bodies, compact plumage to resist water, short, stiff, concave wings, with 10 prima- 



