FOOD OF ROBINS AND BLUEBIRDS. 



19 



significance, as snails, sow bugs, and other inhabitants of wet, dark 

 coverts. The bird does not at present spend the breeding season in a 

 well-settled and cultivated country, and so does not overmuch trespass 

 upon farm products. Only one report of damage has been received, 

 but as that was a number of years ago it is probable that conditions 

 at that time were exceptional. 

 i 



EASTERN BLUEBIRD. 



(Sialia sialis and subspecies.) 



In the breeding season the range of the eastern bluebird (Sialia 

 sialis sialis) covers the whole of the United States eastward of the 

 base ot the Kocky Mountains and extends into Canada. It winters 

 as far north as Pennsylvania and southern Illinois. The azure blue- 

 bird (Sialia sialis fulva), a subspecies, replaces the eastern form in 

 southern Arizona, and ranges farther south into Mexico. Naturally 



Fig. 2. — Bluebird (Siala sialis). 



yery domestic, the bluebird likes to build its nest in a cranny of 

 a building, a box placed for its accommodation, or a natural cavity 

 af a tree — preferably in an orchard. Deserted woodpecker holes or 

 holes running down the center of old stumps are favorite places. 

 Former nesting sites of bluebirds have in many instances been 

 usurped by English sparrows, and many bluebirds thus driven away 

 have betaken themselves to localities less settled and less frequented 

 by the sparrow, where they can live and breed in peace. The blue- 

 bird is such an early spring migrant that many are overtaken by 

 late snowstorms and perish. As a harbinger of spring it receives a 

 kindly welcome, and boxes are often placed for its nest on buildings 



