THE BLUEBIRD 



Thrush Family — Turdidce 



Length : About 6^ to 7 inches. 



General Appearance: Upper parts bright blue; under parts 

 reddish-brown; no crest. 



Male: Head, back, and tail bright blue; wings blue, edged 

 with black; in the fall, edged with reddish-brown; 

 throat, breast, and sides reddish-brown; white from 

 center of breast to tail. 



Female: Similar to male, but paler; wings and tail brightest 

 in flight. 



Young: Grayish-blue, speckled with whitish; wings and tail 

 bluish. 



Call-note: An indescribably sweet rendering of the syllables, 

 ChecT-e-o, given usually while the bird is on the 

 wing. 



Song: A gentle warble of exceptional sweetness — whew'- 

 ee, wheu/-ee, whew'-ee, uttered tenderly and pen- 

 sively. 



Habitat: Orchards and gardens. The birds are usually seen 

 in pairs, and like rather conspicuous perches, such 

 as fence-posts and telegraph wires. 



Nest: Made of grasses and placed in old hollow trees, pref- 

 erably apple-trees. One objection raised against 

 tree-surgery is that it deprives bluebirds of nesting- 

 sites, but that objection may be removed by furnish- 

 ing nesting-boxes, 



Bange: Eastern North America. Breeds from southern Can- 

 ada and Newfoundland to the Gulf Coast and Florida, 

 west to the Rockies; winters in the southern half of 

 the eastern U. S., south to Guatemala. 



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