BLUEBIRD 



Although the bluebird did not come over in the May- 

 flower, it is said that when the Pilgrim Fathers came to 

 New England this bird was one of the first whose gentle 

 warblings attracted their notice, and, from its resemblance 

 to the beloved Robin Redbreast of their native land, they 

 called it the Blue Robin. 



FLORENCE A. MERRIAM. Birds of Village and Field. 1 



When Nature made the bluebird, she wished to propi- 

 tiate both the sky and the earth, so she gave him the color 

 of one on his back and the hue of the other on his breast, 

 and ordained that his appearance in spring should denote 

 that the strife and war between these two elements was 

 at an end. He is the peace-harbinger; in him the celestial 

 and terrestrial strike hands and are fast friends. 



BURROUGHS. Wake Robin. 5 



If the king-bird is one of the chief sinners, the bluebird 

 certainly ranks among the highest of the feathered saints 

 a Nathaniel indeed, in whom is no guile. Its mellow, 

 coaxing love-note is one of the most affectionate sounds 

 in nature, and matches the delicate gentleness of its ways, 

 making it the favorite alike of poet and peasant. 



PARKHURST. The Birds' Calendar. 31 

 / 



24 



