CHAPTER XVII. 



April 16 April 22. 



THE BLUEBIRD. 



Order Passeres. Suborder Oscines. 



Family Turdidse Subfamily Turdinse. 



Genus Sialia. Species Sialia sialis. 



Length 5.70 to 7.00; wing, 3.90 to 4.15 ; tail, 2.60 to 2.90. 

 Migration North, February ; south, November. 



"Winged lute that we call a bluebird. 



You blend in a silver strain 

 The sound of the laughing waters, 



The patter of spring's sweet rain, 

 The voice of the wind, the sunshine, 



And fragrance of blossoming things, 

 Ah, you are a poem of April, 



That God endowed with wings." 



The bluebird is a member of the family Turdidge and a 

 full cousin of the robin the two standing highest in the 

 classification of our birds and are the most familiar of our 

 native birds in the Middle West. "It is worthy of remark," 

 says Mr. John Burroughs, "that among British birds there 

 is no blue bird. The cerulian tint seems rarer among the 

 feathered tribes there than here. On this continent there are at 

 least three species of the common bluebird, while in all our 

 woods there is the bluejay and the indigo bird the latter so 

 intensely blue as to justify its name. There is also the blue 

 grosbeak, not much behind the indigo-bird in intensity of 

 color and among our warblers the blue tint is very common." 

 To these might have been added the belted kingfisher, the 



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