BLUE BIRD. 
55 
tail, ferruginous, the first streaked with black; wings, deep 
dusky, edged with a light clay colour ; lesser coverts and 
whole shoulder of the wing, bright bay ; belly and vent, dull 
white ; bill, light blue, dusky above, strong and powerful for 
breaking seeds ; legs and feet, brown ; iris of the eye, hazel. 
The female differs from the male in having little or no black 
on the breast, nor streak of yellow over the eye ; beneath the 
eye she has a dusky streak, running in the direction of the 
jaw. In all those I opened, the stomach was filled with 
various seeds, gravel, eggs of insects, and sometimes a slimy 
kind of earth or clay. 
This bird has been figured by Latham, Pennant, and several 
others. The former speaks of a bird which he thinks is either 
the same, or nearly resembling it, that resides in summer in 
the country about Hudson’s Bay, and is often seen associating 
in flights with the Geese;* this habit, however, makes me 
suspect that it must be a different species ; for, while with us 
here, the Black-throated Bunting is never gregarious, but is 
almost always seen singly, or in pairs, or, at most, the indivi- 
duals of one family together. 
BLUE BIRD SYLVIA SIALIS. — Plate III. Fig. 3. 
Le rouge gorge bleu, Be Buffon, v. 212. PI. enl. 390. — Blue Warbler, Lath. ii. 
446 Catesb. i. 47 Motacilla Sialis, Linn. Syst. 336. — Bartram, p. 291. 
— j Peak's Museum , No. 7188. 
SI ALIA WILSONII. — Swainson. f 
The Blue Redbreast. Edw. pi. 24. — Saxicola sialis, Bonap. St/nop. p. 89. — Erythaca 
(Sialia) Wilsonii, North. Zool. ii. p. 210. 
The pleasing manners, and sociable disposition, of this 
little bird, entitle him to particular notice. As one of the first 
messengers of spring, bringing the charming tidings to our 
* Latham, Synopsis, Supplement, p. 158. 
f This beautiful species, interesting both as regards its domestic economy, 
and the intimate link which it fills up in the natural system, has been dedicated, 
