of the United States . 
89 
running in pursuit of flying insects ; others alight on small 
bushes, tops of trees, fences, &c. seldom on lower branches. 
Tail continually in motion. 
Hitherto considered as peculiar to the old continent. In 
form of bill and activity in catching insects allied to Mus- 
cicapa ; closely related to Sylvia, the American species par- 
ticularly ; and comes also very near to that section of Turdus 
called Saxicolae. 
143. Saxicola sialis, Nob. Blue ; beneath ferruginous ; belly 
white. 
Female considerably duller. 
Young, dusky, spotted with white ; beneath dull whitish- 
gray, varied with dusky; wings and tail bluish. 
Blue bird , Sylvia sialis . Wils. Am. Orn. i. p . 56. pL 3 fig. 
3. adult male. Motacilla sialis , L. (Enanthe sialis , Vieill . 
Inhabits North America during spring, summer, and 
autumn, as well as the West Indies, Mexico, and South Ame- 
rica, where it winters : very common : a few resident in the 
southern states. 
24. ANTF1US. 
Alauda , L. Gm. Lath. III. Motacilla , Cuv. 
Anthus , Bechst. Temm. Vieill. Ranz. 
Bill straight, slender, subulate, destitute of bristles ; edges 
somewhat indexed in the middle ; upper mandible carinated 
at base, then rounded, notched and declining at tip ; lower 
shorter, quite straight : nostrils basal, lateral, oval, half 
closed by a membrane : tongue cartilaginous, bifid at tip. 
Feet slender; tarsus longer than the middle toe; inner toe 
free ; hind toe shortest, nail almost always long, straightish. 
Wings moderate; no spurious feather; first, second and 
third primaries longest ; secondaries emorginate at tip ; two 
of the scapulars nearly equal to the longest primaries. 
Tail elongated, emarginated. 
