48 LIFE-HISTORIES OF BIRDS 



Stomoxys calcitrans, Scatophago /areata, and 

 the smaller dipterous forms which swarm in the 

 atmosphere and in humid situations; the small 

 Noctuids which welcome returniflig spring the first, 

 and which delight in waste ground and thickets ; 

 the lortricids and Tindds together with the larvae 

 of Eufitchia ribearia, Anisopteryx vernata, Gortyna 

 zea, Harrisina Americana, many of the Agroti 

 or Cut-worms, Pieris rapes, Colias phiiodice, and 

 others. 



For two weeks after its arrival it frequents die 

 borders of thickets and waste fields. Its habits 

 are then terrestrial and gregarious. But as the 

 season advances and the trees become clothed in 

 beautiful green foliage, it deserts its former haunts 

 for the habitations of man. The change is 

 evidently determined by the question of food. 



The .flight of the Blue Bird is low, less firm than 

 the Robin's, and but slightly sustained. 



The exceptional nest to which we referred 

 above, is composed externally of a few leaves, 

 fragments of tendrils of the vine, stems of grasses 

 and of a species oiSinapis, and horse hair, variously 

 intermingled. Internally there was noticeable, 

 stems of Chenopodium, slender grasses, stems of 

 a species: of Poa with the seeds attached, and an 

 intermixture of wool. 



■An interesting episode in the life of this 

 species cannot be out of place. A friend having 

 placed a tomato-can upon an upright post to 

 attract some passing avis, was amply rewarded by 



