CHAPTER VIII. 

 THE THRUSHES AND THEIR ALLIES. 



THE BLUEBIRD. 



THERE is, perhaps, no feathered songster which has so 

 endeared itself to the people of the northern United States 

 as the bluebird. Clad in modest but beautiful colors, endowed 

 with a voice of plaintive melody, and familiarly associating 

 with man, it is one of the most delightful harbingers of spring. 



THE BLUEBIRD. 

 (After Biological Survey.) 



Its insect-eating habits are well known, for the bird may often 

 be seen flitting from its perch in chase of some passing moth 

 or grasshopper. The food of one hundred and eight Illinois 

 specimens, taken in every month of the year except Novem- 

 ber and January, was studied by Professor S. A. Forbes. In 

 February cutworms and ichneumon-flies formed the most 

 important elements of the food, twenty-four per cent, of the 



