on the Bluebird.



49



second laying of eggs follows immediately after the flight of the

first nestlings, the male Blue-bird will often take full charge of

the latter, besides now and then carrying food to the female or

even taking her place on the eggs.


When the last nestlings of the season are on the wing, the

family unites in a loose flock with others, and through the

autumn, the restlessness of the coming migration keeps them on

the move. Sometimes in the late fall, in October or early

November, just before leaving for the south, a pseudo-vernal

feeling will inspire the parents, and, fora few days, the male will

warble sweetly and both will assiduously carry material into the

nesting box. This unseasonal effort is soon cut short by a cold

wintry blast from the north.


Although so gentle in notes and disposition, Bluebirds do

not tolerate too close companionship at the nesting season, and

each breeding pair often have a kind of preserve, perhaps of an

acre or more extent, over which they exercise proprietorship.

They seldom wander or feed outside their imaginary boundary

lines. The same seems to be true in a measure of Bluebirds in

captivity. At one time last spring I had seventeen pairs, mostly

cage-reared birds, hard at work building nests, but only where

the number in each flying cage was confined to one or two pairs,

did the attempts succeed. Bluebirds nest very readily in con¬

finement and rear their young without trouble. They are so

familiar about the door-yards and orchards that they are never

caged, and were not even before the present laws prohibited the

keeping of them in captivity.


I will give one example of many unusual nesting sites

chosen by these birds. A number of years ago, in Reading,

Massachusetts, a pair of Bluebirds built their nest in one of the

signal balls near the railroad station. Here they successfully

raised two broods of young, in spite of the fact that the ball was

lowered fifty times a day for passing trains. Every time it des¬

cended, the parents flew out and waited, perching near by or

flying about impatiently, until the ball was raised again, when

they immediately returned to sit on the eggs or cover the young

-as the case might be.


Our Eastern Bluebird ranges from Nova Scotia and



