THE BLUEBIRD. 15 



the bluebird, with his plaintive contralto warble, 

 stirs the imagination, and is used as the poetic 

 symbol of spring. The temper of the bluebird 

 makes him a fit subject for the poet's encomiums. 

 Mr. Burroughs goes so far as to say that "the 

 expression of his indignation is nearly as musical 

 as his song." 



Lowell speaks of the bluebird as 



" shifting his light load of song 

 From post to post along the cheerless fence." 



But although he is as restless and preoccupied 

 here as elsewhere, lifting his wings tremulously as 

 if in reality " shifting his load of song," and long- 

 ing to fly away, the bluebird sometimes comes 

 down to the prose of life even here and actually 

 hides his nest in the hole of a fence rail. When 

 this is not his fancy he fits up an old woodpecker's 

 hole in a post, stub, or tree ; or, if more social in 

 his habits, builds in knot-holes in the sides of 

 barns, or in bird-boxes arranged for his use. At 

 Northampton I was shown a nest in an old stub 

 by the side of the road, so shallow that the father 

 and mother birds fed their young from the out- 

 side, clinging to the sides of the hole and reaching 

 in to drop the food into the open mouths below. 



Although the bluebird has such a model temper, 

 it has not always a clear idea of the laws of meum 

 and tuum, as was shown by a nest found directly 

 on top of a poor swallow's nest where there lay 

 four fresh eggs ! The nest is usually lined with 



