440 NESTS AND EGGS OF 



suggestive of spring even in dreary December. His fearless confidence 

 in man, his pleasing manners and sociable disposition, win our regard 

 at once. One having no suspicion of his presence is often surprised in 

 the midst of woods, when watching some other species, to see a Blue- 

 bird quietly perched upon some naked bough inquisitively scanning 

 his proceedings. 



The Bluebird is cherished in the hearts of all who know him, and 

 is hailed by the young and the old as he comes to us on the first sunny 

 day of the new year with his plaintive, lisping notes which foretell of 

 the spring, with its verdant fields and balmy air. But the brightness 

 of the day is often suddenly overcast with dark clouds, the snow be- 

 gins to fall, and far up in the fleecy air is heard his sad warbling as he 

 is winging his way through the blinding storm, seeking shelter behind 

 the scenes to await Nature, his timely prompter, to call him forth 

 again in a more favorable season. 



Prose writers have vied with each other in depicting the gentle- 

 ness of his manners, and poets have tuned their harps of varied strings 

 to tell the secret of his charms. As the pioneers cleared the forests 

 centuries ago, the sound of the axe was oftentimes hushed while they 

 stood and marveled at the music of his song, and gazed with wonder 

 upon his back of blue and breast of red. In the early spring, little 

 children loitering by the road-side clap their hands with glee as they 

 hear the merry caroling of the Bluebird, and his notes bring back 

 to the aged and gray, thoughts of the happiest hours of their lives, 

 or recall the days when the shadows of misfortune seemed to reach 

 far into the future. Such are the memories which the Bluebird 

 has long awakened in the hearts of those who love the true and the 

 beautiful, and who do not attempt to hide the sentiments which nature 

 has bestowed on all rational beings. 



Throughout the summer and fall months the Bluebird delights in 

 frequenting open pasture fields, where it may often be seen perched 

 upon tall weeds or bushes, now and then darting out to catch a passing 

 insect, or, quickly descending to the ground, it will pick up a worm 

 which has made its appearance, or a small beetle that has chanced to 

 come from its hiding place. Whole families may be observed thus en- 

 gaged. When the young are able to fly, the male usually takes them 

 in charge, while the female starts a second brood, and sometimes a 

 third is reared in a like manner. 



It loves to sit on the naked branches of tall, leafless trees, or on 

 the topmost boughs of orchard trees, in whose hollows it often builds 

 its nest and rears its young. On these heights the male will some- 



