24 The Birds of Albany County 



South, and even though the dates rarely agree, it is evident that 

 he has a place in the affections of all, although he may 

 be only a symbol of the approaching resurrection of life. I 

 have seen Bluebirds on the ice in February and they did 

 not seem to mind their frosty surroundings. Hoffman says 

 that "In southern Connecticut and Rhode Island, especially 

 along the Sound, and in the lower Hudson Valley, small 

 flocks of Bluebirds spend the Winter, feeding largely on 

 berries." I have no doubt of this statement, as it was in 

 central Connecticut that I saw Bluebirds in February. No 

 writer, to my knowledge, has ever recorded their presence as 

 far north as Albany County in midwinter, and I believe that 

 the middle or the latter part of March is about the time their 

 faint, lisping warble is first heard in this section. I am not 

 going to repeat any of the complimentary things already 

 written about Bluebird, but I will try and typify him myself. 

 Far more than a symbol of the coming recrudescence of 

 nature, he is the type of perfect innocence. His attitude on 

 limb or fence-post betokens confidence in all men. His 

 movements are always gentle and devoid of any show of 

 haste or alarm. He allows you to approach quite close to 

 him and look upon his azure back and russet breast. If he 

 finally flits away to some nearby perch his flight is calm and 

 unflurried and his pose unostentatious. As I have said 

 elsewhere he never betrays emotion and his serenity we may 

 not always understand, but surely he is the optimist of the 

 feathered world. One writer says that Bluebird's song 

 breathes of love. Very true; but it is certainly an ethereal 

 type, with no suggestion of the dross of the world. 



