102 Birds of Buzzard's Roost 



The young leave the nest in fifteen or sixteen days. Two 

 broods are reared during the season, and sometimes three. 

 The male takes an active part in feeding the young, and it is 

 said that as soon as the young of the first brood are ready to 

 fly they are taken care of by him, while the female gives at- 

 tention to the incubation of another family 



Alexander Wilson, the Father of American Ornithology 

 loved the bluebird and "regretted that no pastoral muse had 

 yet arisen in the Western World to do justice to his name, 

 and to endear him to us still more by the tenderness of verse, 

 as has been done to his representative in Britian, the robin 

 redbreast." This inspired him to write the first bluebird 

 poem, and though many have been written since, none that 

 I have ever seen excels it. Of its worth and departure he 

 wrote : 



"He flits through the orchard, he visits each tree, 

 The red flowering peach, and the apple's sweet blossoms; 



He snaps up destroyers wherever they be, 

 And siezes the catiffs that lurk in their bosoms; 



He drags the vile grub from the corn it devours, 

 The worms from the webs where they riot and welter: 



His songs and his services freely are ours, 

 And all that he asks is in summer a shelter." 



"The plowman is pleased when he gleans in his train, 

 Now searching the furrows, now mounting to cheer him; 



The gardener delights in his sweet simple strain, 

 And leans on his spade to survey and to hear him; 



The slow lingering schoolboys forget they'll be chid, 

 While gazing as he warbles before them 



In mantel of sky blue and bosom so red, 

 That each little loiterer seems to adore him." 



"When all the gay scenes of the summer are o'er, 

 And autumn slow enters so silent and sallow, 



And millions of warblers that charmed us before, 

 Have fled in the train of the sun-seeking swallow, 



The bluebird forsaken, yet true to his home, 

 Still lingers and looks for a milder to-morrow; 



Till forced by the horrors of winter to roam, 

 He sings his adieu in a lone note of sorrow." 



And thus in verse the true story of the bluebird is told. So 

 far as is known, it has not been accused of stealing fruit or of 



