214 THE BLUEBIRD. 



" Bermuda ! Bermuda I Bermuda I " he seems to 

 lay, as if both invoking and lamenting, and behold 

 Bermuda follows close, though the little pilgrim may 

 be only repeating the tradition of his race, himsell 

 having come only from Florida, the Carolinas, or 

 even from Virginia, where he has found his Bermuda 

 on some broad sunny hill-side thickly studded with 

 cedars and persimmon trees. 



In New York and in New England the sap starts 

 up in the sugar-maple the very day the bluebird 

 arrives, and sugar-making begins forthwith. The 

 bird is generally a mere disembodied voice ; a rumor 

 in the air for two or three days before it takes visible 

 shape before you. The males are the pioneers, and 

 come several days in advance of the females. By 

 the time both are here and the pair have begun to 

 prospect for a place to nest, sugar-making is over, 

 the last vestige of snow has disappeared, and the 

 plow is brightening its mould-board in the new fur- 

 row. 



The bluebird enjoys the preeminence of being the 

 first bit of color that cheers our northern landscape. 

 The other birds that arrive about the same time — 

 the sparrow, the robin, the phcebe-bird — are clad in 

 lieutral tints, gray, brown, or russet ; but the blue- 

 bird brings one of the primary hues and the divinest 

 of them all. 



This bird also has the distinction of answering very 

 nearly to the robin redbreast of English memory 

 »nd was by the early settlers of New EnglaniJ 

 christened the blue-robin. 



