EASTERN BLUEBIRD 245 



leaving their nest in a fence post: "On June 19 the young were leaving 

 their nest; only two remained within. I spent most of the afternoon 

 trying for more photographs. After a long wait the male flew to a 

 trolley bracket some 60 or 70 feet from the nest and sat there, and on 

 the trolley wire, singing to the nestlings to come out. He kept this 

 up for a long time. Occasionally a youngster would look out of the 

 hole. They were hungry; they called to their parents in the musical 

 young bluebird voice. But all afternoon the parents refrained from 

 going to the nest to feed them. They merely came occasionally to 

 try to coax the young ones out, by flying past, or by singing to them 

 from some little distance. Finally, one of the youngsters — the one 

 that had sat, two or three times, in the entrance way to look around — 

 scrambled out on to the side of the leaning post, climbed partway 

 around it, and flew across the car track to find a landing place on a 

 horizontal guy cable, against a tree. Both parents fed it immediately ; 

 soon they returned and fed it again." He caught the young bird and 

 returned it to the nest, but it came out again within a few seconds, 

 flew over the pasture, and alighted on the ground. During the after- 

 noon the parents had been busy feeding the other young that had 

 left the nest earlier and were in the trees. The last youngster was still 

 in the nest when he departed. 



Bluebirds almost always raise at least two broods in a season, or at 

 least attempt to do so; in many cases three broods are raised. As soon 

 as the birds of the first brood are on the wing, the male takes charge of 

 them, feeds them and teaches them to feed themselves. And the female 

 immediately gets busy with her second nesting, either with the same 

 mate or with another; as mentioned above, only a few days are needed 

 to build the second nest, or lay the eggs in the same old nest, which 

 has been renovated, if necessary. By the time the second brood is 

 hatched the young of the first brood are well grown, are still in the 

 general vicinity of the nest, and are able to assist in the feeding of the 

 second brood of young, as has been frequently observed. After all 

 the broods are fully grown, the family group keeps more or less to- 

 gether in the general vicinity of the nesting site until the time comes 

 to wander about in fall, preparatory to migration. 



Many yearling birds return the following spring to nest in the general 

 vicinity of their birthplace. Mrs. Lasky (MS.) says: "Forty-two 

 females, banded as nestlings, have returned to nest in the parks; also 

 one banded elsewhere nested in the park, five miles from her birth- 

 place. Numerous mated males, banded in the nest, are seen at the 

 nests. The first eggs of 23 birds were laid at ages of 243 to 370 days, 

 average 312. Egg-laying started on the average date of March 27 

 (1938 to 1942), nine days later than a group of 27 birds, two or more 

 years old. Size of sets did not differ with age, five being the average. 



