In an early number of BIRDS we presented a picture of the common
Bluebird, which has been much admired. The mountain Bluebird, whose
beauty is thought to excel that of his cousin, is probably known to few
of our readers who live east of the Rocky Mountain region, though he is
a common winter sojourner in the western part of Kansas, beginning to
arrive there the last of September, and leaving in March and April. The
habits of these birds of the central regions are very similar to those
of the eastern, but more wary and silent. Even their love song is said
to be less loud and musical. It is a rather feeble, plaintive,
monotonous warble, and their chirp and twittering notes are weak. They
subsist upon the cedar berries, seeds of plants, grasshoppers, beetles,
and the like, which they pick up largely upon the ground, and
occasionally scratch for among the leaves. During the fall and winter
they visit the plains and valleys, and are usually met with in small
flocks, until the mating season.
Nests of the Mountain Bluebird have been found in New Mexico and
Colorado, from the foothills to near timber line, usually in deserted
Woodpecker holes, natural cavities in trees, fissures in the sides of
steep rocky cliffs, and, in the settlements, in suitable locations about
and in the adobe buildings. In settled portions of the west it nests
in the cornice of buildings, under the eaves of porches, in the nooks
and corners of barns and outhouses, and in boxes provided for its
occupation. Prof. Ridgway found the Rocky Mountain Bluebird nesting in
Virginia City, Nevada, in June. The nests were composed almost entirely
of dry grass. In some sections, however, the inner bark of the cedar
enters largely into their composition. The eggs are usually five, of a
pale greenish-blue.
The females of this species are distinguished by a greener blue color
and longer wings, and this bird is often called the Arctic Bluebird. It
is emphatically a bird of the mountains, its visits to the lower
portions of the country being mainly during winter.
Heaped in the hollows of the grove, the autumn leaves lie dead;
They rustle to the eddying gust, and to the rabbits' tread.
The Robin and the Wren are flown, and from the shrubs the Jay,
And from the wood-top calls the Crow all through the gloomy day.
--BRYANT.