Blue and Bluish 
among the singing birds. Some one has likened his voice to the 
squeak of a mouse, and Nuttall says it is ‘‘scarcely louder,” which 
is all too true, for at a little distance it is quite inaudible. But in 
addition to the mouse-like call-note, the tiny bird has a rather 
feeble but exquisitely finished song, so faint it seems almost as if 
the bird were singing in its sleep. 
If by accident you enter the neighborhood of its nest, you 
soon find out that this timid, soft-voiced little creature can be 
roused to rashness and make its presence disagreeable to ears and 
eyes alike as it angrily darts about your unoffending head, peck- 
ing at your face and uttering its shrill squeak close to your very 
ear-drums. All this excitement is in defence of a dainty, lichen- 
covered nest, whose presence you may not have even suspected 
before, and of four or five bluish-white. speckled eggs well be- 
yond reach in the tree-tops. 
During the migrations the bird seems not unwilling to show 
its delicate, trim little body, that has often been likened to a di- 
minutive mocking-bird’s, very near the homes of men. Its grace- 
ful postures, its song and constant motion, are sure to attract 
attention. In Central Park, New York City, the bird is not 
unknown. 
TIIr 
