72 



Wild Birds. 



the Bluebird have aroused the enthusiasm of many observers. Unfortunately, we are 

 obliged to add that a case of polygamy in this species has been reported.' 



The choice of a nesting site is made with great care and deirberation. -If they accept 

 the house or box prepared for them, they often have to defend it against the Wren, 

 the Martin, and the House Sparrow. Wrens and Martins are easily driven off, but the 

 pugnacity of the Sparrow, and the greater numbers which he can usually muster 



render all resistance hopeless. An 

 abandoned Woodpecker's hole is not 

 disdained since it forms a safe, cozy 

 house which needs little furnishing. 

 This snug cavern is sheltered from 

 sun and rain, and secure from most 

 birds and beasts of prey. The rotten 

 fence-post, and the many holes in the 

 decayed apple trees may also contain 

 the secret of the Bluebird's nest. 



On August II, 1899, I saw a pair 

 of Bluebirds paying marked atten- 

 tions to an old "auger-hole" in an 

 apple tiee, made by Golden-winged 

 Woodpeckers. It was plainly a case 

 of nest within nest. The female was 

 carrj'ing insects to her invisible 

 young, which I supposed at this late 

 date were ready to fly, but, as it af- 

 terwards appeared, they were only 

 five days old. This hole had been 

 nicely drilled beneath the springing 

 branch of a truncated and now dead 

 prong of the tree, fifteen feet from 

 the ground. 



When the opportunity first offered 

 on August 15th, I sawed off the limb, 

 two feet from the opening, and set it 

 up in a convenient spot fifty feet 

 awa\'. It was so arranged that the whole trunk could be rotated, and the circular 

 entrance of this nest turned directly to the sun at any time of day. I had barely 

 left the place to fetch the tent when the mother bird flew from the apple tree to 

 the stump, entered the hole, and having fed the young, came out with a small, white 

 parcel in her bill. This bird had her eye on the nest, and was ready to visit it in its 

 new situation, when free to do so. The tent was placed two feet away, but later 

 drawn up to a distance of ab(3ut eighteen inches. After concluding these operations, 

 I had to wait longer for the parent bird to come again. When one considers that 

 the nesting branch was suddenly moved fifty feet from its original position and 



' Bullclin Xiitlall Onulholo:^'ual Cliih, vnl. viii., p, (13. 



Fig. 60. Female Bluebird carrying grasshopper to young. 



