The Western Bluebird 
The chestnut of scapulars increases broadly, sometimes involving the whole upper 
back; touches of chestnut appear on crown, hind-neck, and sides of head and neck; and 
the blue of throat is slightly' veiled by grayish brown skirting. Adult female: Somewhat 
like male, but everywhere paler and duller; blue of upperparts clear only on rump, tail, 
lesser and middle wing-coverts, and outer edges of primaries, there lighter than in male 
(amparo blue to flax-flower blue); first primary and outermost rectrices edged with 
white; chestnut of scapulars obsolete, merged with dingy mottled bluish or brownish 
gray of remaining upperparts; exposed tips of remiges dusky; blue of underparts replaced 
by sordid bluish gray, and chestnut of subdued tone (pale cinnamon-rufous) veiled by 
grayish brown tips of feathers. Young birds somewhat resemble the adult female, but 
the blue is restricted to flight-feathers and rectrices, that of the male being brighter and 
bluer, that of the female duller and greener. In both sexes the back and scapular areas 
are brownish, heavily and sharply streaked with white; and the breast (jugulum, sides 
of breast, and sides) is dark sepia brown, so heavily streaked with white as to appear 
“skeletonized.” Length of adults 165-177.8 (6.50-7.00); wing 105 (4.13); tail 65 
(2.56); bill 12.5 (.49); tarsus 21.5 (.85). 
Recognition Marks. —Sparrow size; rich blue and chestnut coloring of male; 
darker blue coloration of wings in female distinctive, as compared with that of 
S. currucoides. 
Nesting. — Nest: In cavities, natural or artificial, old woodpecker holes, hollow 
trees, stumps, posts, bird-boxes, etc., lined with grasses and, occasionally, string, 
feathers, and the like. Eggs: 4 to 6; pale bluish green, unmarked. Av. size 20.8 x 15.7 
(.82.x.62). Season: May—July; two broods. 
Range of Sialia mexicana. —Western North America from British Columbia 
south to the highlands of Mexico. 
Range of 5 . m. occidentalis. —The Pacific Coast States, broadly in the North to 
include southern British Columbia, northern Idaho, and western Montana, south to the 
southern border of California. 
Distribution in California. —Of regular occurrence as a breeder at middle 
levels of Transition and Canadian zones nearly throughout the State. Occasionally 
breeds at lower levels, even in Lower Sonoran. Winters sparingly in Transition, and 
abundantly at the lower levels, including the deserts. 
Authorities.—Audubon ( Sylvia occidentalis ), vol. v., 1839, p. 41 (Santa Bar¬ 
bara); Ridgway, Auk, vol. xi., 1894, p. 154, part (monogr., localities in Calif.); Beal, 
L T . S. Dept. Agric., Biol. Surv. Bull., no. 30, 1907, p. 97 (food); Grinnell, Univ. Calif. 
Pub. Zook, vol. v., 1908, p. 132 (San Bernardino Mts.; desc. nest and eggs; crit.); ibid., 
vol. xii., 1914. p. 216 (Colorado Valley; crit.); Grinnell and Swarth, Univ. Calif. Pub. 
Zook, vol. x., 1913, p. 316 (San Jacinto Mts.; crit., regarding 5 . m. anabelae). 
MIU-MIU-MIU —mute you are, or next thing to it, you naughty 
little beauties! Why don’t you sing, as do your cousins across the 
Rockies? You bring spring with you, but you do not come shifting 
your “light load of song from post to post along the cheerless fence.” 
Is your beauty, then, so burdensome that you find it task enough to shift 
that? 
Alack-a-day! our Bluebird does not sing! You see, he comes from 
Mexican stock, Sialia mexicana, and since we will not let him talk Span- 
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