234 BULLETIN 19 6, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



And, as our Pilgrim fathers welcomed it over 300 years ago, so do we 

 today greet with joy the coming of this lovely, gentle bird each spring. 

 Dull indeed would be the man that did not feel the thrill awakened by 

 the first glimpse of brilliant color in the orchard and the cheery 

 warbling notes borne to our ears on the first gentle breath of spring! 



Before the English sparrows came, to crowd the bluebirds out, the 

 latter came freely to nest in the boxes that we put up for them, or to 

 occupy the natural cavities in the apple trees near our houses, even 

 in the towns and villages. And the coming of the starling has driven 

 them still farther away from our homes. So, now we must look for 

 them in the open country, in the rural apple orchards, along the 

 country roadsides, in open groves, and in burned-over or cut- over 

 woodlands where there are plenty of dead trees and stumps with 

 suitable hollows for nesting. They can be encouraged to remain, 

 however, in any open region by putting up plenty of nesting boxes. 



Spring. — The bluebird is a hardy bird; it does not go so far south 

 in winter as most birds do, and it seeks the first favorable opportunity 

 to return to its summer haunts. A few individuals may spend a 

 mild winter in southern New England, but, as a rule, we may not 

 expect to see the first arrivals here earlier than the first warm days 

 in February; these are probably birds that have wintered not much 

 farther south; and they may not stay long, as winter lingers in the 

 lap of spring, late snowstorms and cold snaps may return and the 

 venturesome birds are forced to retreat. But when the bluebirds 

 come to stay, then we know that spring is really here. They are 

 close rivals with the early robins and red-winged blfckbirds, as har- 

 bingers of spring. W. E. Clyde Todd (1940) has expressed it very 

 well, as follows: 



Of all our birds, this soft-voiced harbinger of spring is one of the most eagerly 

 awaited. When winter begins to yield at last to the warming touch of the return- 

 ing sun; when several days of clearing skies and southerly breezes have loosened 

 the ice-fettered streams, drawn the frost from the ground, and given a balmy 

 tang to the air; and w r hen all nature seems in an expectant mood, vibrant with 

 a new hope and a new promise — the Bluebird returns. * * * Its soft, pleas- 

 ing warble, like the gentle murmur of a flowing brook in soothing cadence, 

 awakens a sense of well-being and content in each responsive listener. 



Bluebirds are seen more or less in winter over so much of their 

 breeding range that the spring migration is not easily traced. Proba- 

 bly there is a gradual northward trend throughout all the winter 

 range, with periodical retreats and advances influenced by weather 

 changes. On Mount Mitchell, in western North Carolina, Thomas 

 D. Burleigh (1941) seems to have noted a definite period of transition, 

 for he found it "fairly plentiful" there "during the early spring months 

 in the cut-over area (6,000 feet), occurring then in small scattered 

 flocks. Extreme dates of occurrence are February 20 (1931) and 



