526 Birds of Colorado 
Wheatear. Sazicola cnanthe. 
A.O.U. Checklist no 765—Colorado Records—Minot 80, p. 224; 
sCooke 97, p. 125 ; Henderson 09, p. 242. 
Description.—Male—Above plain ashy, black on the wings and 
-terminal third of the tail; basal two-thirds of tail, except the middle 
‘feathers, white ; forehead, a superciliary line and upper tail-coverts 
white ; below pinky-buff, becoming white posteriorly ; iris brown, 
bill and legs black. Length 6-0; wing 3-75; tail 1-75; culmen -55; 
tarsus 1-05. i 
The female is duller in colour than the male, and the black is replaced 
‘by dusky. In the winter the upper-parts are brown, the wings have 
lighter edgings, the under-parts are rusty-buff, and the head has no 
distinct streaks. 
Distribution.—Breeding in northern Europe and Asia and across 
Bering Strait to Alaska ; wintering in East Africa and India. 
The Wheatear was met with by Minot at Boulder on May 14th, 
1880. Minot does not specifically say that he obtained the bird, he 
merely writes ‘‘ One specimen at Boulder,’’ and it is possible he may 
have been mistaken, as it has not been taken in western America before 
-or since. Ridgway doubtfully assigns this record to the Greenland 
Wheatear (S. @. lewcorhoa) which breeds in Labrador, and has recently 
been taken in eastern Canada and New York State. 
Genus SIALIA. 
Bill straight and rather stout ; wings very long and pointed, over 
five times the length of the tarsus, the outer primary short and 
not extending beyond the primary coverts; tail much shorter than 
the wing, emarginate ; plumage always with a good deal of blue, not 
. spotted except in the young bird. 
A genus of three species, confined to America ; three species in the 
‘United States. 
Key or THe SPxctrss. 
A. Head bright blue. 
a. Blue above and below, no chestnut. S. currucoides, ¢ p. 529. 
b. Blue above, throat and chest chestnut. S. sialis, g p. 527. 
ce. Blue above and on the throat, chestnut across the back and 
breast. S. m. bairdi, g p. 527. 
.B. Head brownish to dull grey-blue. 
a. Throat cinnamon like the chest. S. sialis, 2 p. 527 
b. Throat grey, only the chest cinnamon. S. m. bairdi, 2 p. 527. 
ce. No cinnamon, below pale grey and white. 
S. currucoides, 2 p. 529 
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