CHAPTER IX 



The Bluebird: Sialia Sialis 



IN ORCHARDS AND BIRD BOXES 



FEMALE AT NEST, HER FACE SERIOUS 

 AS USUAL 



No BIRDS, not even Robins 

 and Wrens, are more component 

 parts of a home in the country or 

 village than Bluebirds. They are 

 among the very earliest arrivals, 

 often coming before,frost and snow 

 time is past. The ancient Chinese 

 pronounced blue "the perfect col- 

 our." Never is blue among birds 

 found in such perfection as on the 

 back of a male Bluebird far ad- 

 vanced in life. Then, too, coming 

 before foliage, and building by 

 preference in hollow rails, trees, 

 limbs and prepared bird boxes, he 

 drops low and takes wing in plain 

 sight, so that we have the benefit of 

 his beautiful colour at close range, 

 without the shadowing foliage. 

 The female is not so bright blue 

 as the male, but by comparison 

 with the male she is much bluer 

 than a hen Cardinal is red. 

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