A Second Season of Bluebird Tenants 63 



of some sort, probably Chickadees, creep into deserted red squirrels' nests for 

 shelter, many Chickadees make their beds in evergreen trees, tucking their heads 

 under their wings on an open roost. It is well that they are wearing thick winter 

 coats of down, and that, among birds, the body temperature is unusually high. 

 Even now the dusk is approaching the gray of the sunset, brightening to a 

 faint afterglow. A slight wind brings sound to the tops of the pines, and causes 

 here and there a faint thud from falling snow. Suddenly there is a lisping call 

 and a tiny gray bird circles to the pine. x-Vnother follows and another, and still 

 others. Chickadee has gone to bed. 



A Second Season of Bluebird Tenants 



By MARIAN E. HUBBARD. Wellesley College 

 With photographs by the author 



THE nesting of a jmir of Bluebirds on a window-shelf, during the season 

 of 1906, has been described in a former number of Bird-Lore.* 

 The same pair of birds returned in the following spring and placed 

 their nest again on a window-shelf in the same apartment-house. That they 

 were the same birds was evident, not only from the 'at home' air with which 

 they took possession of the shelf, but especially from the way in which, immedi- 

 ately upon their arrival, they began pecking in the dishes of corn-meal, which 

 contained meal-worms. Their meal-worms had been served in this fashion 

 during the preceding season, and the association had been so firml\- made that 

 the familiar sight of the yellow grain stirred at once within their minds memo- 

 ries of those savory hidden morsels. 



The new tenement, made, like the old, from an apple-tree bough, but improved 

 by a hinged lid, was on the southeast side of the building. Everything was ready 

 for the tenants on March 20. Bluebirds were seen on the 17th, but it was not 

 until the 24th that they came to inspect the house. Early in the morning of that 

 day the jubilate of the male — that fervent burst of gurgling, {)urling notes which 

 seems to constitute the wooing song — rang out beneath the window, and a 

 furtive glance tlirough the curtain revealed the female on the nest-porch, peer- 

 ing inquiringlv in. It was always she, during these first few days, who each morn- 

 ing examined the apartment to be let, while her escort directed his attention 

 to the cafe near at hand. From this fact it would appear that she was the one 

 who determined the nesting-site. 



The furnishing of the house began on Sunday, April 14, when early in the 

 day both birds came, carrying grasses. Except for this encouragement on the 

 first morning, and for one trip on the last day, the male took no direct share in 

 the construction of the nest. It was the female who toiled to make this ready, 

 bringing her loads at intervals of from three to five minutes. So busy was she 



♦Bird-Lore, Vol. IX, pp. ii-is, 1907 



