EASTERN BLUEBIRD 249 



And Francis H. Allen tells in his notes of a similar experience; he 

 writes: "The parents were very solicitous and very bold; whenever I 

 approached the nest they swooped at me, making a 'clopping' noise 

 with their bills and uttering a harsh chattering note. The male 

 was the more active of the two in the demonstrations. I could 

 hardly help dodging when he launched himself at my head." 



William A. Taylor sends me the following account of a swallow- 

 bluebird feud at the Moose Hill Sanctuary in Sharon, Mass.: "Each 

 spring for years past these two species have fought for the possession 

 of a particular nesting box just back of the house. As a rule, the 

 bluebirds won out, but this year they were outnumbered, and the swal- 

 lows held possession and the bluebirds were forced to take another 

 box some 35 feet away. For a time peace seemed to prevail; but 

 one morning, when the swallows had eggs and the young bluebirds 

 were about to leave the nest, I became aware of a commotion about 

 the swallows' box. As I watched, both male and female bluebirds 

 emerged with swallow eggs, which they dropped to the ground. 

 The swallows left the neighborhood but, much to my surprise, returned 

 after four days and, finding the bluebird box vacant, laid a second 

 clutch and brought forth their young on July 3. The bluebirds 

 raised their second brood in the swallows' first box, thus resulting in 

 a complete exchange of boxes." 



Edward A. Preble (MS.) refers to a swallow-bluebird experience 

 at his boyhood home in Wilmington, Mass. A nesting box was made 

 with two apartments, side by side. Each spring its occupancy 

 was a matter of sharp contention. But one spring the battle soon 

 ended by a compromise. The two pairs proceeded to build in adjoin- 

 ing rooms, and both brought out their broods in relative peace. 



The bluebird, like many other birds, has been seen shadow boxing 

 or fighting his own image in a windowpane or other reflecting surface. 

 John Burroughs (1894) gives an amusing account of such behavior. 

 He tells a story related to him by a correspondent ; a pair of bluebirds 

 had a nest on the observer's porch and a pair of vireos had a nest with 

 young in some lilac bushes but a few feet away; for several days the 

 male bluebird was seen to feed the young vireos repeatedly, greatly 

 disturbing the old vireos; his correspondent writes: "Sometimes the 

 bluebird would visit his own nest several times before lending a hand 

 to the vireos. Sometimes he resented the vireos' plaintive fault- 

 finding and drove them away. I never saw the female bluebird 

 near the vireos' nest." 



With kind treatment and a little encouragement, bluebirds may 

 become very tame, confiding, and friendly. C. F. Hodge (1904) 

 tells an interesting story about how he trained a whole family of 

 bluebirds, old and young, to become friendly with all the members of 



792825 — 49 17 



