BLUEBIRD. 287 



cleaning out the old nest or box now commences ; and even 

 in October, before they bid farewell to their favorite mansion, 

 on fine days, influenced by the anticipation of the season, they 

 are often observed to go in and out of the box, as if examining 

 and planning out their future domicile. Little pains, however, 

 are requisite for the protection of the hardy young, and a sub- 

 stantial lining of hay, and now and then a few feathers, is all 

 that is prepared for the brood beyond the natural shelter of 

 the chosen situation. As the Martin and House Wren seek 

 out the favor and convenience of the box, contests are not 

 unfrequent with the parties for exclusive possession ; and the 

 latter, in various clandestine ways, exhibits his envy and hos- 

 tility to the favored Bluebird. As our birds are very prolific, 

 and constantly paired, they often raise 2 and sometimes prob- 

 ably 3 broods in the season ; the male taking the youngest 

 under his affectionate charge, while the female is engaged in 

 the act of incubation. 



Their principal food consists of insects, particularly beetles 

 and other shelly kinds ; they are also fond of spiders and 

 grasshoppers, for which they often, in company with their 

 young, in autumn, descend to the earth, in open pasture fields 

 or waste grounds. Like our Thrushes, they, early in spring, 

 also collect the common wire -worm, or lulus, for food, as well 

 as other kinds of insects, which they commonly watch for, 

 while perched on the fences or low boughs of trees, and dart 

 after them to the ground as soon as perceived. They are 

 not, however, flycatchers, like the Sylvicolas and Muscicapas, 

 but are rather industrious searchers for subsistence, like the 

 Thrushes, whose habits they wholly resemble in their mode 

 of feeding. In the autumn they regale themselves on various 

 kinds of berries, as those of the sour-gum, wild-cherry, and 

 others ; and later in the season, as winter approaches, they 

 frequent the red cedars and several species of sumach for 

 their berries, eat persimmons in the Middle States, and many 

 other kinds of fruits, and even seeds, — the last never enter- 

 ing into the diet of the proper Flycatchers. They have also, 

 occasionally, in a state of confinement, been reared and fed 



