FEBRUARY, “THE LONG-SHORT MONTH” 318 
them when they come than if they were the most brilliant 
of strangers. Old friends also may bring news, and as for 
birds, no one can ever be sure that there is nothing new 
to learn of them. And as for what we do know, it becomes 
fresh and new each spring with his return. One thing 
about this bird is worthy of notice, and that is the wonder- 
ful way in which Nature uses colour, both as an ornament 
and a protection to her children. The majority of the 
brightly coloured birds do not arrive until there are at 
least a few leaves to screen them; the Oriole, Tanager, 
Rosebreast, and Indigo-bird perching on leafless branches. 
Yet the Bluebird and the Blue Jay, both of brilliant and 
striking plumage, are with us when the trees are entirely 
bare, and when evergreens are lacking they have only sky 
or earth for a background. 
“What does this mean? Look out of the window, 
Sarah, as you are the nearest to it, and perhaps you will 
discover. Do you see two Bluebirds in the branches of 
the old Bell pear tree in the garden? No? Look again; 
they are in the top, where the blue sky shows through the 
smaller limbs.” 
“No, ma’am; that is, I see something moving, but I 
can’t see any colour. Oh, yes! now I do; it was because 
the blue of their backs came right against the sky and 
matched it.” 
“Yes,” said Gray Lady, “and the light underparts 
match the snow and the ruddy breast the fresh earth, so 
that the Bluebird’s beauty is his protection also; for as 
our dear old friend John Burroughs says, ‘When Nature 
made the Bluebird, she wished to gain for him the pro- 
tection of both earth and sky, so she gave him the colour 
