THE BLUE ROBLN. 7 



and amiable with his own kind, while with other birds 

 I have never known him to interfere. 



The eggs are blue and vary from three to five in 

 number. 



A pair of these birds that I once had must have 

 been delicate when I bought them, for the cock, who 

 always looked a little puffy from the day when he first 

 came into my possession, soon fell into a sort of decline 

 and died, a mere skeleton covered with skin and feathers. 

 The hen, however, survived and I kept her for a time, 

 hoping that she might pair with a Robin Redbreast I 

 had, and who shared the same large cage with her. 

 But no, the native champion would have nothing to 

 say to the American beauty, and if he did not drive 

 her about and persecute her, as he would have done a 

 female of his own race, he left her severely alone and 

 after awhile I gave her away. 



What an appetite she had I and what a swallow! 

 Thirteen or fourteen full-grown black-beetles were merely 

 a sort of pick-me-up before breakfast for her, and where- 

 as other birds would pull them to pieces before eating 

 them, she would gulp them down entire and then look 

 round for more ! 



I never heard her utter a sound during the seven or 

 eight months she was in my custody. 



The scientific name of the Blue Robin is Sialiq 

 Wilsonii, Swn. 



