BLUEBIRDS NOT GOOD FIGHTERS 267 



joy until the abominable English sparrows drive it away. It 

 comes with the robin, to help chase winter away; and, though 

 we have heard it a hundred times, it is always welcome news, 

 late in February or early in March, to hear some one say 



KUBY-CROWNED KINGLET. 



triumphantly, "I saw a Bluebird to-day!" It is as needless 

 to describe this feathered beauty, with the brown breast, and 

 back of heaven's bluest sky-tint, as it would be to describe a 

 rainbow. 



Unfortunately, the Bluebirds are not good fighters, and 

 the English sparrows harry them shamefully. They are 



