Common Birds on the Farm. 28T 



been worth his weight in silver by eating the worms from his tobacco 

 plants. Such friends, how^ever, are rare. On the whole, he has been 

 voted a nuisance by nearly all the state legislatures in the Union, and 

 chiefly on account of his presence. Congress has enacted a law prohibit- 

 ing the importation to America of any wild birds or animals without the 

 consent of the proper government authorities. The effect of the English 

 Sparrow on American bird life has thus become a most pronounced one. 

 One should be careful not to confuse this imported species with any of 

 our native sparrow^s, all of w^iich are of the first importance as destroy- 

 ers of insects and consumers of noxious weed seeds. 



BLUEBIRD {Sialia sialis, Linn). 



Upper parts bright blue ; throat, breast and sides dull brick-brown ; belly, whiteu 

 The blue of a female has a grayish tinge, and colored underparts are paler. 

 Range. — United States and Southern Canada. 

 Kest. — Of grass, in bird boxes or holes of trees and stumps. 

 Eggs. — Four to six, pale blue, sometimes white. 



Early in the year 1895 a prolonged cold spell, accompanied with an 

 abundance of snow and ice, restricted the food supply of the Bluebird! 

 to such an extent that large numbers succumbed to famine and cold. 

 As many as fifteen individuals were found dead in a single hollow of a 

 tree in Guilford county. For several years after this catastrophe a 

 question often heard w^as : "What has become of the Bluebird?" Nor- 

 mal food and climatic conditions are again resulting in the bird once 

 more assuming something like its usual numbers. 



The Bluebird seems equally at home in the farmyard or in the 

 field or open woods, remote from human habitation. Always it is the 

 same cheerful, inoffensive little creature, whose very appearance is cal- 

 culated to cheer the heart. They mate early in the spring, are affection- 

 ate parents, and care well for their young. 



It is said that geese, swan, eagles and some other birds mate for life,, 

 and if one is killed the survivor will rarely mate again. The Bluebird 

 does not take matrimonial matters so seriously. The writer one spring^ 

 placed a bird box on a tree in a yard near where two Bluebirds had 

 made their appearance. They at once took possession of it, and in time 

 four blue eggs were deposited. Then a cat climbed the tree and caught 

 the female on the nest. The male was much distracted the next day 

 and mourned constantly for his loss. The day succeeding, however, he 

 found a second mate. She laid five eggs and in turn suffered the same 

 fate as the preceding female. Then I shot the cat. A third wife built 

 her nest in the box and successfully reared her young. 



People living in towns, unfortunately, do not have the pleasure 

 of the Bluebird's company as much as in former years. This is due to 



