Color Key to North American Birds Part 54

Range.--Southern United States; breeds north to North Carolina, southern Illinois, and Kansas, and west to southern Arizona; winters in Mexico and Central America.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 654.]

=654. Black-throated Blue Warbler= (_Dendroica caerulescens_). L. 5.2.

A white patch or spot at base of primaries. _Ad._ [Male]. Throat and sides black; belly white; above dark grayish blue; outer tail-feathers with white. _Ad._ [Female]. Grayish olive-green; below yellowish white; a narrow white line over eye; white wing-patch small, sometimes barely showing above coverts; tail with a bluish tinge. _Yng._ [Male].

Like _Ad._ [Female], but greenish above; black areas smaller and tipped with whitish. _Notes._ Call, a sharp, characteristic _chip_; song, usually, _zwee-zwee-zwee_ in an ascending scale.

Range.--Eastern North America; breeds from northern Connecticut, mountains of Pennsylvania, southern Michigan, and northern Minnesota, north to Labrador and Hudson Bay region; winters in Central and South America.

=654a. Cairns Warbler= (_D. c. cairnsi_). Similar to No. 654, but [Male] darker, the back with more or less black; [Female] darker and duller.

Range.--Breeds in higher portions of southern Alleghanies; winters south of United States.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 658.]

=658. Cerulean Warbler= (_Dendroica cerulea_). L. 5. _Ad._ [Male].

A gray-blue breast band; above bright gray-blue streaked with black; wing-bars and spots in tail white. _Ad._ [Female] and _Yng._ [Male].

Above blue-gray washed with greenish, below yellowish white; a whitish line over eye. _Notes._ Call, a warbler _lisp_ and _tchip_ of the Myrtle Warbler; song resembling that of Parula Warbler. (Brewster.) (See page 180.)

Range.--Mississippi Valley, breeding north to Minnesota and east to Cayuga County, New York, Maryland, and West Virginia; generally rare east of Alleghanies; migrates south through Texas and winters in Central and South America.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 597.]

=597. Blue Grosbeak= (_Guiraca caerulea_). L. 7; W. 3.4. _Ad._ [Male].

Deep, dark blue, back blacker and sometimes with brownish edgings; lesser wing-coverts broadly, greater wing-coverts narrowly tipped with chestnut. In winter more or less tipped with brownish above and below.

_Ad._ [Female]. Above grayish brown, deepest on head; below grayish white washed with buffy; wing-bars buff. Some specimens show more or less blue, particularly about head. _Yng._ [Male]. Like [Female], but browner. _Notes._ Call, a strong, harsh, _ptchick_; song, a beautiful but feeble warble, somewhat like that of Purple Finch and with a slight resemblance to that of Rose-breasted Grosbeak. (Ridgw.)

Range.--Eastern United States; breeds from the Gulf north to Maryland and southern Illinois; winters south of United States into Mexico and Central America; casually north as far as Maine and Quebec.

=597a. Western Blue Grosbeak= (_G. c. lazula_). Similar to No. 597, but larger, W. 3.6; male brighter blue; back blacker; tips of wing-coverts paler, those of greater coverts usually decidedly paler than those of lesser coverts and averaging wider than those of No.

597. Female averaging paler, less brown.

Range.--Western United States; breeds from Mexico north to Kansas, southern Nebraska, Colorado, and northern California; winters in Mexico and Central America.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 598.]

=598. Indigo Bunting= (_Cyanospiza cyanea_). L. 5.4. No white wing-bars. _Ad._ [Male]. Deep blue, darkest on head. In winter brown, paler below, more or less mixed with blue. _Ad._ [Female]. Above brown; below whitish washed with brown with a _suggestion of streaks_; lesser wing-coverts and margins of tail-feathers usually tinged with blue. _Yng._ Similar to [Female] but below more streaked; browner, and generally without blue tinge. _Notes._ Call, a sharp _pit_; song, a tinkling, unsympathetic, rapid warble, _July, July, summer-summer's here_; _morning, noontide, evening, list to me_.

Range.--Eastern United States, west to the Plains, casually to Colorado; breeds north to Nova Scotia and Manitoba; winters in Central America.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 766.]

=766. Bluebird= (_Sialia sialis_). L. 7. _Ad._ [Male]. Above, including wings and tail, bright blue; throat and breast rusty brown, belly whitish. _Ad._ [Female]. Above grayer, below paler. In winter specimens of both s.e.xes have upperparts tipped with rusty. _Notes._ Call, _tur-wee, tur-wee_; song, a rich and sweet but short warble.

Range.--Eastern United States; breeds from the Gulf States to Nova Scotia and Manitoba; winters from southern New England and southern Illinois southward.

=766a. Azure Bluebird= (_S. s. azurea_). Similar to No. 766, but breast paler, upperparts less deep, more cerulean.

Range.--Mountains of eastern Mexico north to southern Arizona.

=767. Western Bluebird= (_Sialia mexicana occidentalis_). L. 7.

_Ad._ [Male]. Above bright blue, foreback with more or less rust-brown, but rarely wholly chestnut; _throat blue_, breast rust-brown, belly bluish gray. _Ad._ [Female]. Above grayish blue; rust on foreback faintly indicated; throat bluish gray, breast paler than in [Male].

_Notes._ Call, suggests that of No. 766, but is louder and wilder.

Range.--Pacific coast region from northern Lower California north to British Columbia, east to western Nevada and casually, during migrations, to New Mexico. (Ridgway.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: 767a.]

=767a. Chestnut-backed Bluebird= (_S. m. bairdi_). Similar to No. 767, but foreback _wholly_ rust-brown.

Range.--Rocky Mountain region from Wyoming south into Mexico.

=767b. San Pedro Bluebird= (_S. m. anabelae_). Rust-brown of back and breast greatly reduced in extent, usually wholly wanting or barely indicated on back, and divided into two patches on breast by backward extension of blue of throat; W. 4.2. (Ridgw.)

Range.--San Pedro Martir Mountains, Lower California.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 768.]

=768. Mountain Bluebird= (_Sialia arctica_). L. 7.5. _Ad._ [Male].

Above beautiful cerulean blue, throat and breast paler, belly whitish.

Winter specimens are more or less tipped with brownish. _Ad._ [Female]. Above brownish gray, rump blue, throat and breast grayish buff; belly whitish. _Notes._ Call, suggests that of No. 766, but in fall is merely a feeble chirp. (Ridgw.)

Range.--Western United States, except Pacific coast; breeds from the Sierra Nevada east to the Plains and from New Mexico north to the Great Slave Lake region; winters from the Mexico boundary states south into Mexico.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 477.]

=477. Blue Jay= (_Cyanocitta cristata_). L. 11.7. _Ads._ Above gray-blue, breast and sides washed with _grayish_; white tip to outer tail-feather rarely less than one inch long. _Notes._ Varied; commonly a loud harsh _jay jay_; often whistling calls and imitations of the notes of other birds, particularly of common Hawks.

Range.--Eastern North America, west to the Plains; breeds from Georgia and northern Texas north to Labrador and Hudson Bay region; resident, except at northern part of range.

=477a. Florida Blue Jay= (_C. c. florincola_). Similar to No. 477, but smaller, L. 10; blue above with a purplish tinge; greater wing-coverts more narrowly barred with black and tipped with white.

Range.--Florida and Gulf Coast to southeastern Texas.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 482.]

=482. Arizona Jay= (_Aphelocoma sieberii arizonae_). L. 13; W. 6.3; T. 5.8. _Ads._ Above grayish blue, head, wings and tail brighter than back; below unstreaked, gray breast tinged with bluish; belly whiter.

_Notes._ Noisy, harsh, and far-reaching. (Bendire.)

Range.--Northern Mexico, north to southern New Mexico and Arizona.