132 BIRD-LAND ECHOES. 



pigeons do the dove-cot ; but this was an unusual 

 occurrence, an exaggeration of their ordinary habits. 

 The miserable intrusive sparrow is in part to blame, 

 but our own indifference is far more culpable. 

 The men who have made efforts to keep down the 

 English sparrow and aid the bluebird are too few in 



Bluebird. 



number, and yet the task is not onerous, for spar- 

 rows are easily outwitted and bluebirds quick to 

 discover the truth. Time was when the garden 

 had as surely its boxes for wrens and bluebirds as 

 its daffodils, heart' s-ease, and yellow roses. The 

 presence of these birds was a matter of course ; not 

 a necessity, perhaps, but so near it that they were 



