192 GLIMPSES OF WILD LIFE 



must have puzzled his little poll! And he 

 learned nothing from experience. Hundreds of 

 times did he perch in the broken pane and 

 sharply eye the interior. And for two months 

 there did not seem to be an hour when he w^as 

 not assaulting the window. He never lost faith 

 in the reality of the bird within, and he never 

 abated one jot his enmity toward him. If the 

 glass had been a rough surface he would cer- 

 tainly have worn his beak and claws and wings 

 to mere stubs. The incident shows the pug- 

 nacious disposition of the bluebird, and it shows 

 how shallow a bird's wit is when new problems 

 or conditions confront it. I have known a 

 cock-robin to assault an imaginary rival in a 

 garret window, in the same manner, and keep 

 up the warfare for weeks. 



On still another occasion similar antics of a 

 male bluebird greatly disturbed the sleep of my 

 hired man in the early morning. The bird 

 with its mate had a nest in a box near by the 

 house, and after the manner of the bluebirds 

 was very inquisitive and saucy about windows; 

 one morning it chanced to discover its reflected 

 image in the windows of the hired man's room. 

 The shade, of some dark stuff, was down on 

 the inside, which aided in making a kind of 

 looking-glass of the window. Instantly the 

 bird began an assault upon his supposed rival 

 in the window, and made such a clattering that 

 there was no more sleep inside that room. 

 Morning after morning the bird kept this up 

 till the tired ploughman complained bitterly and 



