BIRDS OF THE GARDEN AND ORCHARD. 5] 



tween the birds and the various instruments they repre- 

 sent But if the Robin were described as the clarionet, 

 the Bluebird might be considered the flageolet, frequently 

 but not incessantly interspersing a few mellow strains. 

 The Hair-Bird would be the octave flute, constantly 

 trilling on a high key, and the Golden Robin the bugle, 

 often repeating his loud and brief strain. The analogy, 

 if carried further, might lose force and correctness. 



All the notes of the Bluebird — his call-notes, his 

 notes of complaint, his chirp, and his song — are equally 

 plaintive and closely resemble one another. I am not 

 aware that this bird utters a harsh note. His voice, 

 which is one of the earliest to be heard in the spring, is 

 associated with the early flowers and with all pleasant 

 vernal influences. When he first arrives he perches upon 

 the roof of a barn or upon some leafless tree, and delivers 

 his few and frequent notes with evident fervor, as if con- 

 scious of the pleasures that await him. These mellow 

 notes are all the sounds he makes for several weeks, sel- 

 dom chirping or scolding like other birds. His song is 

 discontinued at midsummer, but his plaintive call, con- 

 sisting of a single note pensively modulated, continues 

 every day until he leaves our fields. This sound is one 

 of the melodies of summer's decline, and reminds us, like 

 the note of the green nocturnal tree-hopper, of the ripened 

 harvest, the fall of the leaf, and of all the joyous festivals 

 and melancholy reminiscences of autumn. 



The Bluebird builds his nest in hollow trees and posts, 

 and maybe encouraged to breed around our dwellings, by 

 supplying boxes for his accommodation. In whatever 

 vicinity we reside, whether in a recent clearing or the 

 heart of a village, if we set up a bird-house in May, it 

 will certainly be occupied by a Bluebird, unless pre- 

 viously taken by a Wren or a Martin. But there is com- 

 monly so great a demand for such accommodations, that 



