BLUEBIRD. 287 
cleaning out the old nest or box now commences; and even 
in October, before they bid farewell to their favorite mansion, 
on fine days, influenced by the anticipation of the season, they 
are often observed to go in and out of the box, as if examining 
and planning out their future domicile. Little pains, however, 
are requisite for the protection of the hardy young, and a sub- 
stantial lining of hay, and now and then a few feathers, is all 
that is prepared for the brood beyond the natural shelter of 
the chosen situation. As the Martin and House Wren seek 
out the favor and convenience of the box, contests are not 
unfrequent with the parties for exclusive possession; and the 
latter, in various clandestine ways, exhibits his envy and hos- 
tility to the favored Bluebird. As our birds are very prolific, 
and constantly paired, they often raise 2 and sometimes prob- 
ably 3 broods in the season; the male taking the youngest 
under his affectionate charge, while the female is engaged in 
the act of incubation. 
Their principal food consists of insects, particularly beetles 
and other shelly kinds; they are also fond of spiders and 
grasshoppers, for which they often, in company with their 
young, in autumn, descend to the earth, in open pasture fields 
or waste grounds. Like our Thrushes, they, early in spring, 
also collect the common wire-worm, or /w/us, for food, as well 
as other kinds of insects, which they commonly watch for, 
while perched on the fences or low boughs of trees, and dart 
after them to the ground as soon as perceived. They are 
not, however, flycatchers, like the Sy/icolas and Muscicapas, 
but are rather industrious searchers for subsistence, like the 
Thrushes, whose habits they wholly resemble in their mode 
of feeding. In the autumn they regale themselves on various 
kinds of berries, as those of the sour-gum, wild-cherry, and 
others ; and later in the season, as winter approaches, they 
frequent the red cedars and several species of sumach for 
their berries, eat persimmons in the Middle States, and many 
other kinds of fruits, and even seeds, — the last never enter- 
ing into the diet of the proper Flycatchers. They have also, 
occasionally, in a state of confinement, been reared and fed 
