Bluebird 25 



Bluebird is something more than a symbol. He and his 

 more modest-hued wife have duties to perform in the springtime 

 quite as well as other birds not so well known to the human 

 family. The home is generally in a hollow limb or birdhouse, 

 but Bluebird never excavates for himself. Like the Great 

 Crested Flycatcher and House Wren, he hunts about until he 

 has found a convenient hollow, which has either been fashioned 

 by the beak of a Woodpecker or through the process of natural 

 decay, and therein builds the nest of soft grass. From four 

 to six pale blue eggs are laid and sometimes the first set is 

 complete by April 1 5. Two or three broods are reared in 

 a season. Bluebirds have few enemies to contend with, and 

 they are as numerous now as when our grandfathers 

 were boys. They are not so often seen in cities as formerly, 

 as they have been driven out by the English Sparrows. But 

 stroll out in the country a mile or so in the early Spring and 

 you will be greeted by them on every side. 



American Robin. — Merula migratoria. 10.00 



Very Common Summer Resident 



Field marks. — Head black, white spot over eye; back dark 

 gray; throat white, spotted with black; rest of under 

 parts light reddish-brown; bill yellow. 



While the writer who said that Robins were, "mostly 

 fools," may have been rather too sweeping, still, close observers 

 cannot deny that this bird displays a surprising lack of wit on 

 most occasions. The strongest evidence against him in this 

 regard is his way of always acting half scared to death. 



