Bluebird. 53 



from the range of the wandering small boy, and chooses 

 the site for its nest along country rail fences, retired 

 roads bordering wood patches, and cavities in trunks and 

 stumps in the woods. 



When its home is disturbed, the bluebird displays un- 

 usual resolution in sharing the fate of its household. 

 Once a friend and myself attempted to examine a cavity 

 in a fence-post near a stumpy meadow. A female bluebird 

 was sitting upon her eggs in the cavity, and she per- 

 sistently declined to leave the premises, even in the face 

 of the threats we hammered against the post. By en- 

 larging the cavity we were able to reach her tail with our 

 finger-tips, but she clung the closer to her nest, until she 

 parted with several of her tail feathers, and we desisted 

 from thus marring her appearance. Not until she was 

 lifted from the eggs did she flutter to escape. Visiting the 

 nest several days later, we saw five young birds, 



"* * wide-mouthed to every shade 

 By which their downy dream is stirred, 

 Taking it for the mother bird." 



Succeeding observation traced their rapid growth and 

 departure from the defaced cavity, and their lessons in 

 foraging for grasshoppers among the stumps of the pasture. 



This elegant and highly valuable species is generally 

 less common than it was twelve or fifteen years ago. The 

 sparrows have appropriated the sites formerly used by the 

 bluebirds, until it is exceptional for the bluebirds to nest 

 in villages, cities, or suburbs. In former days nearly 

 every suburban orchard had one or more pairs of blue- 

 birds nesting in cavities made by woodpeckers in the 

 trunks of the apple trees; but the ubiquitous sparrows 

 have extended their range even to the orchards, and our 

 friends must withdraw to the country and woods to rear 

 their young in comparative peace. Along the railroads, 

 in the earlier part .of the summer, they .usually can be 

 seen sitting upon the telegraph wires. Upon one's ap- 

 proach they will fly to a perch farther along the wire, or 

 fly around to a position behind the observer. When an 

 insect on the ground attracts their attention, they fly 

 to the ground, secure their prey, and, after a momentary 

 pause, return to their perch, uttering their soft, pleasing 



