126 THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 
WESTERN BLUEBIRD 
Sialia mexicana occidentalis (Towns) 
Birds so familiar as the Bluebirds need no description; they 
differ so slightly from the Eastern species that it is sometimes diffi- 
cult to tell one from the other where their ranges overlap. Our Oregon 
birds are slightly browner over the back. They are confiding little 
birds with dispositions typical of all that is sweet and amiable; their 
call notes are soft and gentle; the,male is brighter colored than his 
mate. 
Before the advent of man these birds nested in old Woodpecker 
holes, in clefts of bark, or any handy cavities, but they now gladly 
and thankfully accept our bird boxes and help us keep our gardens and 
flowers free from destructive worms and insects. 
Crickets, moths, grasshoppers, caterpillars, ants and weevils form 
a large part of their food, with a very small amount of fruit. 
They have a pretty habit of quivering their wings just before 
seizing a delectable morsel of worm, and of hovering momentarily in 
the air after the manner of Flycatchers. 
Where the winters are cold and long the Bluebirds are com- 
pelled by the scarcity of food to migrate, but when spring comes they 
return, and one hears the expression “Spring has come, for the Blue- 
birds are here.” 
In Oregon these birds merely drop down to the lower valleys and 
in many cases do not leave their home locality. A pair nested in a box 
on our window last year, and all through the fall and warm winter 
weather could be seen going to sleep on the crossbars of the telephone 
poles; but when the cold came on they took to a neighbor’s box and 
slept there together in safety throughout the ice period and up to 
this date, the 20th of March. In a certain box in Corvallis twenty-six 
Bluebirds slept every night during the cold weather. 
The lesson is obvious: do not take down the old boxes except to 
cleanse them of the old nests and mites. These boxes will serve a two- 
fold purpose: first, safe sleeping quarters; second, keep the English 
Sparrows from pre-empting the box. Gentle as the Bluebirds are, they 
can usually fight off the Sparrows if the latter have not already had 
a chance to establish themselves. I have often aided them in their 
fight by shooting the Sparrow with a .22 shot, and, although picking 
off the Sparrow when but a foot or two away from the Bluebirds, the 
latter were not the least alarmed. 
It is easy to make friends with them and is worth all the time it 
takes. Accustom them to your presence gradually, make no sudden 
movements, and they will lose all fear of you. 
An interesting method of watching the growth of the young is to 
make a box without a back and hook it to the upper window sash, 
putting a removable cardboard back on the inside of the window. 
When the birds have settled to feeding the young, this can be removed 
and many pleasant hours will be your reward. 
The Western Bluebird lays six eggs, sometimes seven. One record 
noted by Mr. W. L. Finley was of two broods of seven and one of 
five successfully raised in the year 1904 by one pair of Bluebirds. 
