VII. 

 THE BIRD OF SOCIETY. 



THE redwing blackbird is preeminently a 

 bird of social tastes. Nearly the whole year 

 he lives in a noisy crowd, calling, screaming, 

 and singing from morning till night. At this 

 time in his life his manners are of no particular 

 interest, but in the spring, as to other birds, 

 comes the mysterious impulse to leave the giddy 

 throng, to retire to a quiet nook, to build a nest 

 and establish a family. During this pleasing 

 episode in his ordinary history, his personality 

 reveals itself. He is no longer simply a unit 

 in a lively mob, but an individual with well- 

 marked characteristics and tastes of his own, 

 and he then becomes attractive to the student 

 of bird ways. It is in his domestic capacity, at 

 the head of a family, that the redwing is now 

 presented to you. 



The blackbird nook is invariably the loveli- 

 est spot in a neighborhood, and is never hard 

 to find, for with childlike ingenuousness he 



