288 SINGING BIRDS. 
on soaked bread and vegetable diet, on which they thrive as 
well as does the Robin. 
The song of the Bluebird, which continues almost uninter- 
ruptedly from March to October, is a soft, rather feeble, but 
delicate and pleasing warble, often repeated at various times 
of the day, but most frequently in early spring when the sky 
is serene and the temperature mild and cheering. At this 
season, before the earnest Robin pours out his more energetic 
lay from the orchard tree or fence-rail, the simple song of this 
almost domestic favorite is heard nearly alone; and if at 
length he be rivalled, at the dawn of day, by superior and 
bolder songsters, he still relieves the silence of later hours by 
his unwearied and affectionate attempts to please and accom- 
pany his devoted mate. All his energy is poured out into this 
simple ditty, and with an ecstatic feeling of delight he often 
raises and quivers his wings like the Mocking Orpheus, and 
amidst his striving rivals in song, exerts his utmost powers to 
introduce variety into his unborrowed and simple strain. On 
hearkening some time to his notes, an evident similarity to the 
song of the Thrush is observable; but the accents are more 
weak, faltering, and inclining to the plaintive. As in many 
other instances, it is nearly impossible to give any approxi- 
mating idea of the expression of warbled sounds by words; yet 
their resemblance to some quaint expressions, in part, may not 
be useless, as an attempt to recall to memory these pleasing 
associations with native harmony: so the Bluebird often at 
the commencement of his song seems tenderly to call in a 
whistled tone hear — héar bitty, buty ? or merely hear — bitty, 
and instantly follows this interrogatory call with a soft and warb- 
ling trill. So much is this sound like that which these birds 
frequently utter that on whistling the syllables in their accent, 
even in the cool days of autumn, when they are nearly silent, 
they often resume the answer in sympathy. During the period 
of incubation, the male becomes much more silent, and utters 
his notes principally in the morning. More importantly 
engaged, in now occasionally feeding his mate as well as him- 
self, and perhaps desirous of securing the interesting occupa- 
