212 BIRDS—SA XICOLID.A. 
motions, together with his lofty position while singing, render him con- 
spicuous and familiar. When on his northward migration he steals 
along cautiously through thickets and undergrowth, frequenting logs, 
brush heaps, and the banks of streams. At such times he is usually 
silent and shy, but arrived at his breeding grounds with his mate, he 
pours fourth his loud and rollicking notes from the tops of the highest 
trees. Hesings sometimes by the hour with a volubility scarcely equalled. 
Morning and evening are his chosen hours for this exercise. | 
His nest is built on the ground, in brush heaps, on stumps, in bushes 
and trees almost indiscriminately. In the vicincity of Columbus the 
nest is rarely found on the ground, and then only at the first of the season, 
when, it would appear, other suitable spots did not furnish sufficient con- 
cealment. The eggs in these nests are frequently addled. I have never 
known a brood raised from a nest on the ground. Im all cases the soil 
was cold, clayey and wet. Most commonly the nest is placed in a deep 
thicket, in the fork of small tree from three to six feet from the ground. 
The female frequently betrays its location on the approach of man bya sharp 
mournful ‘‘cluck ” of alarm and warning. No birds are more brave in 
defense of their young, following their captor for a long distance with 
threats of violence accompanied with screams of distress. The nest is 
large and loosely constructed of leaves and small twigs and lined with 
leaves, fibres of bark, and rootlets. The eggs are usually tour, sometimes 
five, having a ground color varying from white to light blue, thickly and 
uniformly speckled with reddish brown. They measure 1.05 by .81. 
FAMILY SAXICOLIDA. BLUEBIRDS. 
Primaries ten, Nostrils exposed, oval. First primary less than one-half the second. 
Wing long and pointed, reaching, when folded, beyond the middle of the short, square, 
or emargiuate tail, and one and a half times or more the length of the latter; tip formed 
by the secoad, third, and fourth quills; onter secondary reaching only about two-thirds 
way to end of longest primary 3 spurious quill very short. Tarsi booted. 
GENUS SIALIA. Swainson. 
Bill short, stout, somewhat depressed at base, compressed toward tip, slightly 
notched. Rictus with short bristles. Tarsus about equal middle toe; claws consider- 
ably curved. Tail emarginate. 
SIALTA SIALIs (L.) Halderman. 
Mastern Blivebird., 
Saxicola sialis, KIRTLAND, Ohio Geolog. Surv., 1838, 163. 
Sialia wilsonii, READ, Proc. Philad. Acad. Nat. Sci., vi. 1853, 395. 
