176 
SAXICOLA SIALIS. 
0< 
bird perched on the top of a peach or apple 
of those reverend hroad-a^® ^ 
anions: the branches , 
chestnut trees, that stand alone in the middle oi 
fields, bleached h_v the rains and blasts of a^^cs ? 
The hlnehird is six inches and three rinarters^j j, 
lonnrth, the winjfs reinarkahly full and broad; u 
whole upper parts are of a rich sky blue, with P'S,' 
reflections ; the hill and le<>s are black ; inside <” 
mouth and soles of the feet, yellow, resembling: 
colour of a ripe persimmon ; the shafts of all the 
and tail-feathers are black; throat, neck, breast, 
sides, partially under the winjfs, chestnut ; n inifs, dU" i 
black at the tips ; belly and vent, white ; souicti'^y 
the secondaries are exteriorly lii>ht brown, but 
■ -oiO I 
bird has in that ease not arrived at his full 
The female is easily disting-uished by the duller 
ca: 
xuc iciiiaic Itj •-rj v .^ji» 
the back, the plumage of which is skirted '' da 
brown, and by the red on the breast being much 
and not descending near so low as iu the male; j 
secondaries also more dusky. This species is w 
over the whole United States; in the Bahama 
where many of them winter ; as also iu Mexico, 1^''’ 
and Guinea. .j(il 
Mr Edwards mentions, th.at the specimen of this „ 
which he was favoured with, was sent fi'om the ii 
das ; and, as these islands abound with the cedar, *j|i 
highly probable that many of those birds jiass 
our continent thither, at the commencement ot 
■ni< 
tin'" 
to enjoy the mildness of that climate as well as 
favourite food. 
As the bluebird is so regularly seen in winter, w ,f, 
the continuance of a few days of mild and ojicu 
it has given rise to various conjectures as to the P ' 
of his retreat. Some supposing it to be in •'*.^[ 1 - 
sheltered thickets, lying to the sun ; others the 
bourhooil of the sea, where the air is supposed 
more temperate, and where the matters thrown “Pifiil 
the waves furnish him with a constant and .ji’* 
supply of food. Others trace him to the dark ’"‘’‘'jjje/ 
of hoilow trees, and subterraneous caverns, where 
c 
