AMERICAN OSPREY 



VOL. I. 



ASHLAND, KY., JUNE. 1890. 



NO. 6. 



BIRD STUDIES.— II. 



THE BLUEBIRD. 



BY PICUS. 



It is safe to say that the Bluebird 

 stands next to the Robin in the affections 

 of everybody. The Robin is called a 

 thief by the angry gardener whom he 

 has despoiled, but the Bluebird has not 

 a single bad habit to count against him; 

 he gets his living in a legitimate way, 

 never provokes a quarrel with his neigh- 

 bors, and devotes his entire attention to 

 bringing up his family in the way they 

 should go. 



In this latitude (42°) the Bluebird is 

 the very first spring bird to arrive; he 

 may be looked for about the middle of 

 February, two or three weeks in advance 

 of the Robin, but it is only the more 

 venture-some birds that eome so early, 

 the bulk of the flock come with the first 

 Robins. 



Unlike some other birds, the Bluebird 

 never seems to sing for effect, though 

 his soul is so full of music that he fairly 

 bubbles over with it. In spring he is 

 constantly heard as he flits from one 

 desirable nesting-place to another, or 

 perches on a slender spray in the tree- 

 tops. The whole burden of his song is 

 cheerely, cheerely delivered in a delightf- 

 ully liquid whistle. After nidification 

 the song ceases for the sum-mer. 



The Bluebird's original nesting place 

 was in a hole in a tree, and a great part 

 of the race still nest in such situations, 

 but the bird houses which man erected 

 soon attracted their attention, and such 

 a house properly placed seldom goes 

 long untenanted. The Martins, Tree- 

 sparrows and Wrens, for whom the 

 houses were built, often challenge the 



j Bluebird's title to such a residence, and 

 long and stubborn warfare is waged for 

 j possession. The numerous holes in the 

 ; apple trees make the orchard the next 

 j best place to nest in, and the Bluebird is 

 ! always mentally associated with the 

 orchard on that account. 



The nest is composed exteriorly of 

 soft grasses and lined with horse hair, 

 : feathers and wool; the eggs are seldom 

 more than five; in color, pale blue, some- 

 ! times white. Three broods are often 

 I reared in a season, the same nest with a 

 I few alterations answering for all. In the 

 five years that Bluebirds have nested in 

 the writer's bird houses, they have never 

 failed to pay a visit to their nesting- 

 place before going south in the fall. 



The Bluebird ranges from the south- 

 ern states to northern New England and 

 west to the Rocky mountains. 



BIRDS OF COLUMBIA COUNTY 

 WISCONSIN. 



Cowbird (Molothrus ater). This bird 

 is quite abundant here, and as every one 

 knows it builds no nest for itself, bat 

 deposits its egg or eggs in other bird's 

 nests. The greatest number I ever read 

 of being found in one nest was four, but 

 I once found a nest with six Cowbird 's 

 in it, and apparrently all laid by the 

 same bird and all fresh; I had the mis- 

 fortune to break them all. There were 

 no other bird's eggs in the nest, the Cow- 

 bird's eggs were warm. There was no 

 other collector near that I know of. The 

 nest was perfectly built of small twigs 

 and weeds and placed snugly in a brush 

 pile. 



(Continued on 2d page.) 



