A Summer With the Bluebirds 



45 



I proceeded to fill. In this way I fed them two or three times during the 

 afternoon and at the last feeding led them out onto my hand and brought 

 them in to their fellows in the shoebox. Next day I tried to return the 

 \oung birds to their parents, but, while I saw the female on the deserted 



box once, she 

 paid no atten- 

 tion to the nest- 

 lings and soon 

 flew off, never 

 to be seen again. 

 A month of 

 delightful bird 



ASLEEP 



study followed. The 

 nestlings were tame as 

 kittens from the first, 

 and never showed the 

 least trace of fear or 

 wildness. We gave 

 them a room in the 

 kennel, and how they 

 learned to drink and 

 bathe and feed them- 

 selves is a story bv 



AWAKE ! 



Itself. 



(3ne sad incident I ought not to omit. In my series of feeding tests I 

 brought in a number of potato beetles and thoughtlessly dropped a large 

 larva into an open mouth before observing whether they would take them 

 of their own accord. I noticed then that they picked them up once apiece, 

 wiped their bills in disgust and declined to touch them again. Next 

 morning one of the birds was dead under the perch. 



We liberated the birds — each with a tiny aluminum anklet, for pur- 

 poses of identification this spring — one bright morning in early September, 

 and feared we had seen the last of them as they flitted out of sight among 

 the tree -tops. I was glad, however, to see that they were actively catch- 

 ing insects among the branches, and since black cherries were ripe they 



