500 THRUSHES, BLUEBIRDS, ETC. ; 
sometimes plain white, °85 x ‘65. Date, Ft. Pierce, Fla., Mch. 17; Mt. 
Pleasant, S. C.; Mch. 26, small embryos; Cambridge, Apl. 15; se. Minn., 
Apl. 16. 
A bird so familiar as the Bluebird needs no introduction; in fact, 
he seems so at home in our orchards and gardens or about our dwell- 
ings that one wonders what he did for a home before the white man 
came. 
In the winter, it is true, Bluebirds are greater rovers, and one may 
see them in the Southern States whirling through the woods in large 
flocks or feeding on the berries of the mistletoe. But the warmth of 
returning spring reminds them of cozy bird-boxes or hospitable pear 
or apple trees, and soon we see them inspecting last summer’s home, 
evidently planning repairs and alterations. 
The Bluebird’s disposition is typical of all that is sweet and amia- 
ble. His song breathes of love; even his fall call-note—tur-wee, tur- 
wee—is soft and gentle. So associated is his voice with the birth and 
death of the seasons that to me his song is freighted with all the glad- 
ness of springtime, while the sad notes of the birds passing southward 
tell me more plainly than the falling leaves that the year is dying. 
1905. Herrick, F. H., Home Life of Wild Birds, 115-121. 
