The Audubon Societies 123 



MY BLUEBIRDS 



Early in December, 1914, my brother and I cut down an old half-dead 

 apple-tree, and on it we found a partly hollow log that the English Sparrows 

 had evidently used for years. As T had my eye out for bird-houses, I confis- 

 cated it and finished hollowing it out. It made three log-nests, all of which 

 have been used by bird tenants since then. On February 17, I put up two of 

 the logs on the bank of the Ohio River, at a distance of 40 feet from our house, 

 where they could easily be observed from nine different windows. 



The site was ideal for a bird's nest. Below, 127 feet, the Ohio rolled majes- 

 tically by, flushed with the melted snow that the spring rains brought from the 

 mountains, and dotted here and there with floating cakes of ice. The other 

 bank of the river rose 329 feet above the level of the water. It was heavily 

 wooded and an ideal place for all kinds of birds. As this is right in the path of 

 the Mississippi Migration Route, one could hear the "honk, honk," of Canada 

 Geese, the talking notes of the Old Squaw, and once the maniacal laughter of a 

 Loon, as it followed the Ohio to the mouth of the Beaver River, there probably 

 resting and continuing its journey up the Beaver to its northern nesting-ground. 

 Below, I give the dates of the important events in the Bluebirds' history. 



February 17. Nest-logs put up. March 27. Second egg laid. 



February 25. First Bluebird seen. March 28. Third egg laid. 



February 28. Three pairs looked at both March 29. Fourth egg laid. 



logs, fought for them, and my pair March 30. Fifth egg laid. 



rented it. April 13. Young hatched. 



March 21. Nest completed. April 29. Young left the nest. 

 March 26. First egg laid. 



Prior to March 29, the river bank had been burned over twice for the pur- 

 pose of improving the grass roots, but the Bluebirds never seemed to mind it, 

 although the nest was enveloped in clouds of thick smoke both times. The last 

 two days of March, and the first two of April were cold, below freezing, with 

 a driving snowstorm followed by sleet; but the Bluebirds' activities never 

 ceased. At this time the: male passed the night in the nest with the female, 

 'twinkling' into the log it sunset. The male was very pugnacious, and seemed 

 not to know fear. He would dash with equal courage at a Flicker or a Song 

 Sparrow, when they approached his tree. Once I saw him actually knock a 

 Flicker off a branch. Perhaps he would not have succeeded had the Flicker 

 been aware of his approach, but the Bluebird came up behind and hit him 

 below the belt. When I would go near the nest, the male would utter 'chuck- 

 ling' notes, as if to scold and frighten me away. On several occasions he came 

 so close that I could almost touch him. 



When the young were about four days old, I set up my camera, three feet 

 away from the nest, to obtain some pictures. The first time the shutter snapped, 

 the female hopped down on to the branch on which the camera was placed, put 



