WHAT BIRDS SAY AND SING 219 



long-drawn, melodionsly inflected call note: "Su- 

 gar! Su-gar!" often accompanied, especially 

 around a bird-box, with a flutter of wings, which 

 might truly be described as a combination of 

 sound and feathers. His song falls into the same 

 measure as the robin's, but it is very different in 

 cadence. The robin selects a choir loft, looks 

 around him to naake sure that he has at least a 

 feathered audience, while very frecjuently he seeks 

 a human one; then he throws up his head, parts his 

 beak widely, and rolls forth the notes with vast 

 assurance. The bluebird has a timid, depreca- 

 tory manner, and always to me there is a plaintive 

 tone. When his life history with us is taken into 

 consideration, this is not much of a marvel; for 

 in my experience, bluebirds come to grief ten times 

 to a robin's once. The bluebird arrives so early 

 in March, coming sometimes even as early as Feb- 

 ruary, that he faces cold, ice and storm, spring 

 gale, heavy downpour, and scarcity of food. Fre- 

 quently a pair lose their nest, because they love 

 to build in bird-houses placed for them. These 

 houses very frequently are set with poor judg- 

 ment, so that they are constantly preyed upon 

 by cats and red scjuirrels; while it is impossible so 

 to construct bird-boxes that they will admit a 

 bluebird and exclude its bitterest enemy, the Eng- 

 lish sparrow. Very frequently, bluebirds bring 

 off two or three broods to the season; so I feef 

 justified by the facts in stating that this singer 



