AZURE WINGS THE BLUEBIRD 337 



have time to sing. For this reason we seldom hear the 

 bluebird's song after the first young are hatched. No 

 sooner does a brood get old enough to leave the nest than 

 the father takes full charge of them, gives them their edu- 

 cation, fights for their safety any bird that comes his way, 

 and even goes so far as to drive the house cat from their 

 vicinity. In the meantime the mother bird rests a few 

 days and then begins the task of rearing a second brood. 

 By the time she is sitting again the young birds are usually 

 able to look after themselves, at which time the father, 

 without a day's vacation, returns to his duty of feeding 

 her. In the early spring we often see bluebirds alight on 

 the plowed ground, and if insects are scarce and there is 

 a young family to feed, they may even follow the plow all 

 day long for grubs and worms. By the time the third 

 family is ready to fly it is time to think of the trip to the 

 southland. So the bluebird leads a busy life in the 

 summer. 



I was in Texas one fall when the bluebirds began to 

 arrive from the North. They did not come with the joyous 

 song with which they arrive in the spring in the North. 

 Instead they seemed to be dull and sad. They would sit 

 about on trees, occasionally giving utterance to a sad little 

 chirp. Each day they arrived in greater numbers until 

 by the first of November they could be seen by the hun- 

 dreds any day. At first I thought they were dull because 

 they were tired after their long journey, but as the days 

 wore by and there was no change I became convinced that 

 it was their normal way of acting. Evidently they do not 

 love the Southland as well as their northern home, and 

 feel that they are simply forced to come South by the 

 hard winter. 



