250 THE BLUEBIRD. 



him close till a ploughman near by came to 

 the rescue with his ox-whip. 



There never was a happier or more de- 

 voted husband than the male bluebird is. 

 But among nearly all our familiar birds the 

 serious cares of life seem to devolve almost 

 entirely upon the female. The male is hila- 

 rious and demonstrative ; the female, serious 

 and anxious about her charge. The male 

 is the attendant of the female, following her 

 wherever she goes. He never leads, never 

 directs, but only seconds and applauds. If 

 his life is all poetry and romance, hers is 

 all business and prose. She has no pleasure 

 but her duty, and no duty but to look after 

 her nest and brood. She shows no affection 

 for the male, no pleasure in his society : she 

 only tolerates him as a necessary evil, and 

 if he is killed, goes in quest of another, in 

 the most business-like manner, as you would 

 go for the plumber or the glazier. In most 

 cases the male is the ornamental partner in 

 the firm, and contributes little of the work- 

 ing capital. There seems to be more equality 

 of the sexes among the woodpeckers, wrens, 

 and swallows ; while the contrast is greatest 

 perhaps in the bobolink family, where the 

 courting is done in the Arab fashion, the 



