288 SINGING BIRDS. 



on soaked bread and vegetable diet, on which they thrive as 

 well as does the Robin. 



The song of the Bluebird, which continues almost uninter- 

 ruptedly from March to October, is a soft, rather feeble, but 

 delicate and pleasing warble, often repeated at various times 

 of the day, but most frequently in early spring when the sky 

 is serene and the temperature mild and cheering. At this 

 season, before the earnest Robin pours out his more energetic 

 lay from the orchard tree or fence-rail, the simple song of this 

 almost domestic favorite is heard nearly alone ; and if at 

 length he be rivalled, at the dawn of day, by superior and 

 bolder songsters, he still relieves the silence of later hours by 

 his unwearied and affectionate attempts to please and accom- 

 pany his devoted mate. All his energy is poured out into this 

 simple ditty, and with an ecstatic feeling of delight he often 

 raises and quivers his wings like the Mocking Orpheus, and 

 amidst his striving rivals in song, exerts his utmost powers to 

 introduce variety into his unborrowed and simple strain. On 

 hearkening some time to his notes, an evident similarity to the 

 song of the Thrush is observable ; but the accents are more 

 weak, faltering, and inclining to the plaintive. As in many 

 other instances, it is nearly impossible to give any approxi- 

 mating idea of the expression of warbled sounds by words ; yet 

 their resemblance to some quaint expressions, in part, may not 

 be useless, as an attempt to recall to memory these pleasing 

 associations with native harmony : so the Bluebird often at 

 the commencement of his song seems tenderly to call in a 

 whistled tone 'hea7- — hear biity, buty ? or merely /^<?«r — bfity, 

 and instantly follows this interrogatory call with a soft and warb- 

 ling trill. So much is this sound like that which these birds 

 frequently utter that on whistling the syllables in their accent, 

 even in the cool days of autumn, when they are nearly silent, 

 they often resume the answer in sympathy. During the period 

 of incubation, the male becomes much more silent, and utters 

 his notes principally in the morning. More importantly 

 engaged, in now occasionally feeding his mate as well as him- 

 self, and perhaps desirous of securing the interesting occupa- 



