BIRDS OF FIELD AND GARDEN. 291 
first a mere wandering voice in the skies, comes down to us 
a sure augury of returning spring. The Robin, Song Spar- 
row, and Blackbird renew the vernal prophecy; but when 
the Bluebird warbles gently from the leafless trees, and flits 
from fence to house top, we feel that 
the very spirit of the spring has come. 
The Bluebird is usually common, 
locally at least, in Massachusetts by 
the middle of March, and flights may 
be seen going south in September and 
October. The bird is seldom seen 
later than November; but it is quite 
possible that occasionally a few winter Fig. 127.—Bluebira, about 
in southeastern Massachusetts, as they aac ee 
have been reported there in December and January, and a 
few are said to winter in the same latitude in Connecticut. 
Wherever dense red cedar and sumac thickets are numerous 
and fruitful, there is food enough to carry through the winter 
such Bluebirds as may venture to stay. It is quite probable 
that some of the early birds which come from the south in 
February are starved and frozen during the extreme cold 
weather and snowstorms which sometimes follow their ap- 
pearance ; most of them, however, contrive to exist until 
warm weather appears. 
This bird often rears two or three broods. The male bird 
takes care of the young after they have learned to fly, while 
the female prepares a nest for the next brood. 
The Bluebird needs no defence; it has long been regarded 
as a harmless species, for it takes practically none of man’s 
products, and boards itself. Nevertheless, it is probably not 
as useful as the Robin, —a bird which has been widely reviled 
asa pest. However, the utility of the Bluebird must be ac- 
knowledged, although it perhaps eats more beneficial insects 
in proportion to the harmful ones than does the Robin. The 
Bluebird comes close to the Robin as a cutworm destroyer, 
and at times it is an eflicient caterpillar hunter. It is valu- 
able in the orchard in repressing outbreaks of cankerworms. 
As it eats the furry caterpillars of Arctians and other hairy 
species, it is of especial value in Massachusetts. It is a 
