BLUEBIBD 43 



and capped at each end to keep out the rain. 

 It should then be fastened securely to a branch 

 or tree trunk with strong wire. Bird houses of 

 some sort are especially necessary on the prairie 

 and in other regions where few natural nesting 

 sites are to be found. 



One of the most effective ways to attract the 

 Bluebird, however, is by planting wild berry- 

 bearing bushes, particularly in the west, where 

 such bushes do not grow naturally. For while 

 three quarters of the Bluebird's food consists of 

 grasshoppers, crickets, caterpillars, and similar 

 insects, and it is " exceedingly useful to the horti- 

 culturist and farmer, destroying myriads of larvae 

 and insects which would otherwise increase and 

 multiply to the great injury of vegetation," the 

 Bluebird is not a bird of one idea, but extends his 

 dietary to wild fruits, and by means of them may 

 be brought about our houses. A variety of 

 bushes can be planted, for he has been found to 

 eat bird cherry, chokeberry, dogwood, bush cran- 

 berry, huckleberry, greenbrier, Virginia creeper, 

 strawberry-bush, juniperberry, bittersweet, poke- 

 berry, false spikenard, partridgeberry, holly, rose 

 haws, sumac, and wild sarsaparilla. 



Wilson, in speaking of the Bluebird engaged 

 in courting his mate, says in his delightful way : 

 " If a rival makes his appearance, ... he quits 

 her in a moment, attacks and pursues the in- 

 truder as he shifts from place to place, in tones 



