EASTERN BLUEBIRD 235 



March 21 (1930). It may possibly breed sparingly at this altitude, 

 although there are no actual records." 

 John Burroughs (1880) says: 



In New York and New England the sap starts up in the sugar maple the very 

 day the bluebird arrives, and sugar-making begins forthwith. The bird is gener- 

 ally a mere disembodied voice; a rumor in the air for two or three days before it 

 takes visible shape before you. The males are the pioneers, and come several 

 days in advance of the females. * * * 



The bluebird enjoys the preeminence of being the first bit of color that cheers 

 our northern landscape. The other birds that arrive about the same time — the 

 sparrow, the robin, the phoebe-bird — are clad in neutral tints, gray, brown, or 

 russet; but the bluebird brings one of the primary hues and the divinest of them all. 



Many a disaster may overtake these hardy pioneers on their north- 

 ward journey from the genial southland; perhaps they are more brave 

 than hardy, for they suffer much, and many perish from the effects 

 of sleet and snowstorms, and from freezing temperatures. Bagg 

 and Eliot (1937) quote the following story from a Springfield, Mass., 

 paper: "On March 28 a pair of Bluebirds came to the feeding station 

 of Charles J. Anderson, 24 Eddywood Ave., Springfield, and after 

 eating began to flutter and peck at the window. It was cold outside, 

 so after talking to them through the glass, Mrs. Anderson let them in. 

 The male was hardy, but the female manifestly required warmth. 

 She was given warm milk to drink, and warbled her thanks. For 

 three days, while the cold spell lasted, she returned periodically to 

 get warm inside the room." They say that "Mr. Cross of Huntington 

 has a photograph of twenty-two Bluebirds together which, caught in 

 a heavy spring snowstorm, lived upon sumac berries and between 

 feedings snuggled together, all fluffed up, on a small dead branch in 

 the shelter of a building." 



And Edward H. Forbush (1929) says that "in western Massachusetts 

 and in Vermont during late spring storms many bluebirds have 

 died huddled together in hollow trees, where they sought refuge from 

 fury of the gale. During a storm a lady in Stowe, Vermont, heard a 

 Bluebird calling in her living room and found two in the stove. They 

 had sought shelter in the chimney and had come down the stovepipe." 



Courtship. — The love-making of the bluebird is as beautiful as 

 the bird itself, and normally as gentle, unless interrupted by some 

 jealous rival who would steal his bride; then gentleness gives place 

 to active combat. The male usually arrives a few days ahead of the 

 female, selects what he considers to be a suitable summer home, and 

 carols his sweetest, most seductive notes day after day until she appears 

 in answer to his call. Then he flutters before her, displaying the 

 charms of his widespread tail and half-opened wings, warbling in 

 delicious, soft undertones, to win her favor. At first she seems in- 

 different to the gorgeous blue of his overcoat or the warm reddish brown 



