Genus XLIII. SYLVIA. WARBLER. 
Species I. S. SIALIS. 
BLUE-BIRD. 
[Plate III. Fig. 3.] 
Le Rouge gorge bleu, Buffon, v., 212, PI. Enl. 390. — Blue-Warbler, Lath, ii., 446. 
— Catesb. i., 47. — Motacilla sialis, Linn. Syst. 336. — Bartram, p 291.* 
The pleasing manners and sociable disposition of this little bird enti- 
tle him to particular notice. As one of the first messengers of spring, 
bringing the charming tidings to our very doors, he bears his own 
recommendation always along with him, and meets with a hearty wel- 
come from everybody. 
Though generally accounted a bird of passage, yet so early as the 
middle of February, if the weather be open, he usually makes his ap- 
pearance about his old haunts, the barn, orchard and fenceposts. 
Storms and deep snows sometimes succeeding, he disappears for a time ; 
but about the middle of March is again seen, accompanied by his mate, 
visiting the box in the garden, or the hole in the old apple-tree, the 
cradle of some generations of his ancestors. " When he first begins his 
amours," says a curious and correct observer, "it is pleasing to behold 
his courtship, his solicitude to please and to secure the favor of his 
beloved female. He uses the tenderest expressions, sits close by her, 
caresses and sings to her his most endearing warblings. When seated 
together, if he espies an insect delicious to her taste, he takes it up, 
flies with it to her, spreads his wing over her and puts it in her 
mouth. "t If a rival makes his appearance (for they are ardent in 
their loves), he quits her in a moment, attacks and pursues the intruder, 
as he shifts from place to place, in tones that bespeak the jealousy of 
his affection, conducts him with many reproofs beyond the extremities 
of his territory, and returns to warble out his transports of triumph 
beside his beloved mate. The preliminaries being thus settled, and the 
spot fixed on, they begin to clean out the old nest, and the rubbish of 
* Motacilla sialis, Linn. Syst. i., p. 187, Ed. 10.— Gmel. Syst. I., p. 989.— Sylvia 
sialis, Lath. Bid. Orn. n., 522. — Vieillot, Ois. de V Am. Sept. pi. 101, male; 102, 
female ; 103, young. — La Gorge rouge de la Caroline, Buff. PI. Enl. 396, fig. 1, 
male; fig. 2, female. 
f Letter from Mr. William Bartram to the author. 
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