BLOOM. 



BLUE-BIRD. 



them a beautiful appearance. The 

 flowers are in terminal clusters, small and 

 numerous. They blow in June and July, and 

 the seed ripens in August. The dried root, 

 either in powder or in decoction, is astringent; 

 and may be used in spitting of blood, and vio- 

 lent purgings. 



BLOOM or BLOSSOM. A general npme 

 for the flowers of plants, but more especially 

 of fruit-trees. The office of the blossom is 

 partly to afford protection, and partly to draw 

 or supply nourishment to the fertilizing organs 

 of the plant, for the perfecting of the embryo, 

 fruit, or seed. 



Bloom is a term applied to the delicate 

 powder which coats the outer surface of such 

 smooth-skinned fruits as the grape and plum. 

 In gathering such fruits, care should always 

 be observed to prevent this bloom from being 

 removed by handling or otherwise, as it injures 

 the appearance. 



BLOSSOM. A colour in horses, formed by 

 the intermixture of white hairs with sorrel and 

 bay ones. 



BLOW-BALL. A local name for the flower 

 of the dandelion. 



BLOW-FLY. The large flesh-fly (Musca 

 earn aria). 



BLOW-MILK. The milk from which the 

 cream has been blown off. 



BLOWN. In farriery, a diseased state of 

 the stomach and bowels of cattle, caused by 

 the sudden extrication of air in large quantities 

 from some of the grosser kinds of green food. 

 See HOVE*. 



BLOWS. A provincial term used to signify 

 the blossoms of beans, &c. 



BLUBBER. See FISH. 



BLUE-BELLS (Scilla nutans). A common 

 name given to a bulbous-rooted plant of the 

 hyacinth kind, frequently met with in woods 

 and other places. Its bulb is globular, white, 

 and coated; its leaves linear, channelled, 

 shining, and drooping in their upper half; the 

 flowers form a cluster on an upright stalk, 

 drooping in the upper half; they are blue, 

 pendulous, nearly an inch long, and scented. 

 The bulb is acrid, but loses its acrimony in 

 drying, in which state it answers as a substi- 

 tute for gum-arabic in the' art of dyeing, by 

 being simply dried and powdered. 



BLUE-BIRD. Mr. Nuttall describes three 

 species of the blue-bird (Sialia), found in 

 America. That which is most familiarly 

 known in the United States (the Sylvia sialis 

 of Wilson), is an insectivorous bird, inhabiting 

 almost every section of the continent east of 

 the Rocky Mountains, from the forty-eighth de- 

 gree of latitude to the tropics. Although they 

 generally spend their winters in the Southern 

 States, they sometimes remain in well-protected 

 warm situations in the southern parts of Penn- 

 sylvania. They breed and pass the summer 

 from Labrador to Natchez. "In the Middle 

 and Northern States," says Mr. Nuttall, " the 

 return of the blue-bird to his old haunts round 

 the barn and the orchard is hailed as the first 

 agreeable presage of returning spring, and he 

 L> no less a messenger of grateful tidings to 

 the farmer, than an agreeable, familiar, and 

 useful companion to all. Though sometimes 

 190 



he makes a still earlier flitting visit, from the 

 3d to the middle of March, he comes hither as 

 a permanent resident, and is now accompanied 

 by his mate, who immediately visits the box in 

 the garden, or the hollow in the decayed 

 orchard-tree, which has served as the cradle 

 of preceding generations of his kindred. Af- 

 fection and jealousy, as in the contending and 

 related thrushes, have considerable influence 

 over the blue-bird. He seeks perpetually the 

 company of his mate, caresses and soothes her 

 with his amorous song, to which she faintly 

 replies ; and, like the faithful rook, seeks oc- 

 casion to show his gallantry by feeding her 

 with some favourite insect. If a nval makes 

 his appearance, the attack is instantaneous, 

 the intruder is driven with angry chattering 

 from the precincts he has chosen, and he now 

 returns to warble out his notes of triumph by 

 the side of his cherished consort. The busi- 

 ness of preparing and cleaning out the old nest 

 or box now commences ; and even in October, 

 before they bid farewell to their favourite 

 mansion, on fine days, influenced by the anti- 

 cipation 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 substantial 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 favour 

 and convenience of the box, contests are not 

 unfrequent with the parties for exclusive pos- 

 session ; and the latter, in various clandestine 

 ways, exhibits his envy and hostility to the 

 favoured blue-bird. The eggs are five or six, 

 of a very pale blue, and without spots. As 

 they are very prolific, and constantly paired, 

 they often raise two and sometimes probably 

 three broods in the season ; the male taking 

 the youngest under his affectionate charge, 

 while the female is engaged in the act of incu- 

 bation. 



" 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 oui 

 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 va- 

 rious 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 latter of which never enter into 

 the diet of the proper flycatchers. They have 

 also, occasionally, in a state of confinement, 



