BIRDS OF MINNESOTA. 447 



SIALIA SIALTS (L.). (766.) 

 BLUEBIRD. 



There is an unmingled pleasure in giving this beautiful and 

 highly civilized bird a welcome to Minnesota after the long 

 and comparatively birdless winter, coming, too, so often 

 almost exactly at the same time as the Robin, and like him, 

 though with less ostentation, at once proclaiming its arrival 

 by its familiar song. It is ordinarily to be looked for about 

 the 25th of March. In 1868 it came to Minneapolis on March 

 20th; 1869, March 29th; 1870, April 1st; 1875, March 29th; 1876, 

 April 7th. In 1878 several were credibly reported from the 

 immediate vicinity on January 26th, after a prolonged interval 

 of high temperature. On the tenth of March following I 

 found them here to stay. In 1880 I found them near the city 

 on the 4th of February, but none more until March 23d. The 

 variety of these dates seems to indicate that his winter quar- 

 ters are probably not as far removed from this latitude as are 

 those of the Robins. (I do not believe with Wilson that he 

 comes from very far. ) The males precede the females a little, 

 and mating does not usually take place until about the fourth 

 week in April. 



Bartram is quoted by Wilson as saying: "When he first 

 begins his amours it is pleasing to behold his courtship, his 

 solicitude to please and to secure the favor of his beloved 

 female. 



He uses the tenderest expressions, sits close beside her, 

 caresses and sings to tier in most endearing warblings. When 

 seated together if he spies an insect delicious to her taste, 

 he takes it up, flies with it to her, spreads his wing over her, 

 and puts it in her mouth. " The last named author continues 

 ' 'if a rival makes his appearance— for they are ardent in their 

 love — he quits her in a moment, attacks and pursues the in- 

 truder as he shifts from place to place, in tones that bespeak 

 the jealousy of his affections, conducts him with many reproof s 

 beyond the extremities of his territory, and returns to warble 

 out his transports of triumph beside his beloved mate. The 

 preliminaries being thus settled, and the spot fixed on, they 

 begin to clean out the old nest and the rubbish of the former 

 year to prepare for the reception of their future offspring." 

 The nest is likely to be in a hole in the top of a rotten-hearted 

 stump, a like opening in the end of a fence rail, a knot-hole in a 

 fence post, or in a Martin's box. The materials for its con- 



