94 CITIZEN BIRD 



love and respect the Bluebird ; all welcome him to their 

 gardens and orchards. The crossest old farmer, with 

 his back bent double by rheumatism, contrives to bore 

 some auger holes in an old box and fasten it on the 

 side of the barn, or set it up on the pole of his hayrick ; 

 while the thrifty villager provides a beautiful home for 

 his blue-backed pets — a real summer hotel, mounted 

 on a tall post above a flower-bed, with gables and little 

 windows under the eaves. 



" Why does this bird receive so much attention ? 

 There are many others witli gayer plumage and more 

 brilliant songs. It is because the Bluebird is gentle, 

 useful, brave, and faithful under adversity, while he 

 and the Robin are the first two birds that children 

 know by name. AVe must live in a very cold, wind- 

 swept part of the country not to have some of these 

 birds with us from ]\Iarch until Thanksgiving day, and 

 then, wlien a week has passed and we have not seen a 

 single one, we say winter has come in earnest. When 

 weeks go by and our eyes grow tired of the glare of 

 the snow, or our hearts discouraged at the sight of bare 

 lifeless trees and stretches of brown meadow — sud- 

 denly, some morning, we liear a few liquid notes from 

 an old tree in a sunny spot. All eagerness, we go out to 

 see if our ears have deceived us. No, it is a Bluebird ! 

 He is peeping into an old Woodpecker's hole and act- 

 ing as if he had serious thoughts of going to house- 

 keeping there, and did not intend waiting to move in 

 until May-day either. Wlien you see him you may 

 know that, though there is still ice on the water-trough 

 and on the little streams, spring is only around the 

 corner, waiting for her friend, the sun, to give her a 



