86 B L U E B I R D .
This species has often reminded me of the Robin Redbreast of
Europe, to which it bears a considerable resemblance in form and habits.
Like the Blue Bird the Redbreast has large eyes, in which the power of
its passions are at times seen to be expressed. Like it also, he alights on
the lower branches of a tree, where, standing in the same position, he peeps
sidewise at the objects beneath and around, until spying a grub or an
insect, he launches lightly towards it, picks it up, and gazes around intent
on discovering more, then takes a few hops with a downward inclination
of the body, stops, erects himself, and should not another insect be
near, returns to the branch, and tunes his throat anew. Perhaps it may
have been on account of having observed something of this similarity of
habits, that the first settlers in Massachusetts named our bird the Blue
Robin, a name which it still retains in that state.
Were I now engaged in forming an arrangement of the birds of our
country, I might conceive it proper to assign the Blue Bird a place among
the Thrushes.
Mo t a c i l l a Si a l i s , Linn. Syst. Nat. vol. i. p. 336.
Sy l v i a Si a l i s , Lath. Index Ornith. vol. ii. p. 523.
Saxicola Si a l i s , Ch. Bonaparte, Synops. of Birds of the United States, p. 8 9 .
Er y t i i a c a (Si a l i a ) Wi l s o n i i , Swains, and Richards. Fauna Bor. Amer. part ii.
p. 210.
Bl u e Bi r d , Sy l v i a Si a l i s , Wils. Amer. Ornith. vol. i. p. 56. pi. iii. fig. 5. Male.
Nuttall, Manual, part i. p. 444.
Adult Male. Plate CXIII. Fig. 1.
Bill of ordinary length, nearly straight, broader than deep at the
base, compressed towards the end ; upper mandible with the dorsal line
convex, the tip declinate, the edges sharp. Nostrils basal, oval. Head
rather large, neck short, body rather full. Feet of ordinary length,
slender; tarsus compressed, covered anteriorly with a few long scutella,
acute behind, scarcely longer than the middle toe ; toes scutellate above
the two lateral ones nearly equal; claws arched, slender, compressed,
that of the hind toe much larger.
Plumage soft and blended, slightly glossed. Wings of ordinary
length, broad, the first quill longest, the second scarcely shorter, the secondary
quills truncato-emarginate. Tail rather long, broad, nearly
B L U E B I R D . 87
even, of twelve broad, rounded feathers. Short bristle-pointed feathers
at the base of the mandible.
Bill and feet black, the soles yellow, iris yellowish-brown. The general
colour of the upper parts is bright azure-blue, that of the lower
yellowish-brown, the belly white. Shafts of the quills and tail feathers
dusky.
Length 7 inches, extent of wing 10; bill along the ridge \, along
the edge J ; tarsus T
8
g .
Adult Female. Plate CXIII. Fig. %
The female has the upper part of a tint approaching to leaden, the
foreneck and sides yellowish-brown, but duller than in the male, the
belly white.
Length 6 | inches.
Young Bird. Plate CXIII. Fig. 3.
When fully fledged, the young have the upper part of the head, the
back of the neck, and a portion of the back broccoli-brown ; the rest of
the upper part much as in the Female. The lower parts are light grey,
the feathers of the breast and sides margined with brown.
Th e Gr e a t Mu l l e i n .
VERBASCUM THAPSUS, Wild. Sp. PI. vol. i. p. 1001. Pursh, Flor. Amer. vol. i.
p. 142. Smith, Engl. Flor. voL i. p. 512—PEXTANDRIA MOXOGYNIA, Linn.
SoLANEiE, JllSS.
This plant, which is well known in Europe, is equally so in America;
but whether it has been accidentally or otherwise introduced into the
latter country, I cannot say. At present there is hardly an old field or
abandoned piece of ground on the borders of the roads that is not overgrown
with it. In the Middle and Southern Districts, it frequently attains
a height of five or six feet. The flowers are used in infusion for
catarrhs, and a decoction of the leaves is employed in chronic rheumatism.