50 Bird -Lore 



The young Bluebirds are spotted thickly on throat and back, after the 

 manner of the throat of their cousin, the Robin; or, rather, the back 

 feathers are spotted, the breast feathers having dusky edges, giving a 

 speckled effect. 



The study of the graduations of plumage of almost any brightly colored 

 male bird from its first clothing until the perfectly matured feather of its 

 breeding season, is, in itself, a science and a subject about which there are 

 many theories and differences of opinion by equally distinguished men. 



The food of the nestling Bluebird is insectivorous, or, rather, 

 the Bluebird ^^ ^^ rnore exact, I should say animal; but the adult birds 

 vary their diet at all seasons by eating berries and small fruits. 

 In autumn and early winter, cedar and honeysuckle berries, the grape-like 

 cluster of fruit of the poison ivy, bittersweet and catbrier berries are all con- 

 sumed according to their needs. 



Professor Beal, of the Department of Agriculture, writes, after a pro- 

 longed study, that 76 per cent of the Bluebird's food ''consists of insects 

 and their allies, while the other 24 per cent is made up of various vegetable 

 substances, found mostly in stomachs taken in winter. Beetles constitute 

 28 percent of the whole food, grasshoppers 22, caterpillars 11, and vari- 

 ous insects, including quite a number of spiders, comprise the remainder of 

 the insect diet. All these are more or less harmful, except a few predaceous 

 beetles, which amount to 8 per cent, but in view of the large consumption 

 of grasshoppers and caterpillars, we can at least condone this offense, if such 

 it may be called. The destruction of grasshoppers is very noticeable in the 

 months of August and September, when these insects form more than 60 

 per cent of the diet." 



It is not easy to tempt Bluebirds to an artificial feeding-place, such as I 

 keep supplied with food for Juncos, Chickadees, Woodpeckers, Nuthatches, 

 Jays, etc. ; though in winter they will eat dried currants and make their 

 own selection from mill sweepings if scattered about the trees of their 

 haunts. For, above all things, the Bluebird, though friendly and seeking 

 the borderland between the wild and the tame, never becomes familiar, and 

 never does he lose the half-remote individuality that is one of his great 

 charms. Though he lives with us and gives no sign of pride of birth or race, 

 he is not of us, as the Song Sparrow, Chippy or even the easily alarmed 

 Robin. The poet's mantle envelops him even as the apple -blossoms throw 

 a rosy mist about his doorway, and it is best so. 



THE BLUEBIRDS 



I. Eastern Bluebird {Sialta sialis) 



Adult male. — Length 7 inches. Upper parts, wings and tail bright blue; breast and 

 sides rusty, reddish brown, belly white. Adult female. — Similar to the male, but upper 

 parts, except the upper tail coverts, duller, gray or brownish blue, the breast and sides 



