The Mountain Bluebird (Siaiia currucoides) 



By Gerard Alan Abbott 



Length : 7 inches. 



Range : Colorado to the Pacific coast and north to the Hudson Bay country. 



This handsome bird of the thrush family is more delicately colored than our 

 eastern bluebird. In some localities it is known as the Rocky Mountain, or Arctic, 

 Bluebird. The habits are similar to those of the bluebird. 



The birds feed upon insects, worms, wild fruit, and seeds. They are able to 

 adapt themselves to climatic conditions and weather some of the severest storms. 



In certain portions of our western states the birds show a preference for the 

 habitation of man and build their nests in nooks and crevices about barns and 

 sheds. Frequently the deserted excavations constructed by various woodpeckers 

 are used as nesting sites. Dry grass is the chief and often only article used in 

 constructing the nest. Four or five pale blue eggs are laid. Like our eastern 

 bluebird, the young when able to fly are escorted by. the male, while the female 

 prepares the nest for another setting. 



The exquisite coloring of the Arctic Bluebird makes it seem the gentlest, 

 most beautiful of all the lovely bluebirds. 



No bird can ge more attractive than this gentle, sweet tempered and shy 

 bluebird of the mountains. Loving the light, bracing air and and the quiet forests 

 of the mountain side, it is rarely seen upon the lowlands, but is abundant from 

 the plains up to timber-line. In some localities it has been known to go above the 

 point at which timber growth ceases, and it has been observed at an elevation of 

 13,000 feet. 



The Mountain Bluebird very closely resembles its eastern relative, the well- 

 known bluebird, Siaiia sialis. Its colors, however, are softer and more delicate, 

 and it is not so truly arboreal as is the eastern species. It seeks its food, to a 

 great extent, in the open places while hovering but a short distance above the 

 ground. It possesses a shy and retiring disposition, yet it will accept the hospi- 

 tality of the miner or ranchman, and builds its home in the nesting places that 

 he has provided. The bluebirds will also build their nests about old buildings ; 

 in suitable places in the vicinity of mines ; in hollow trees ; in the deserted holes 

 of woodpeckers, and in openings and crevices in the rocky formations at higher 

 elevations. 



The Mountain Bluebirds feed upon grasshoppers, beetles and other insects, 

 and also upon the seeds of various plants and cedar berries. A large part of 

 their food is picked up from the ground, and not infrequently it is obtained by 

 scratching among the fallen leaves. 



The song of the Mountain Bluebird is like its own nature, simple and sweet. 

 Dr. Ridgway says : "The common note of this Bluebird would, from its character, 

 be at once recognized as that of a bluebird. Its autumnal note, however, lacks 

 entirely the peculiar plaintiveness so characteristic of that of our eastern species, 



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