The Western Bluebird 
From this it is clear that the Western Bluebird is no musician, 
but he is a beauty; and he does have the same gentle courtesy of bearing 
which has endeared the Bluebird wherever known. It is impossible to 
treat of Bluebird’s domestic life without recourse to humanizing terms. 
Bluebird is a gentleman, chivalrous and brave, as he is tender and loving. 
Mrs. Bluebird is a lady, gentle, confiding, and most appreciative. And 
as for the little Bluebirdses they are as well-behaved a lot of children 
as ever crowned an earthly affection. 
Both parents are unsparing in their devotion to the rising generation. 
and so thoroughly is 
this unselfish spirit 
reflected in the con¬ 
duct of the children 
that it is the subject 
of frequent remark. 
Mr. Finley tells 1 of 
an instance in which 
a first brood, just out 
of pinafores, turned 
to and helped their 
parents provide food 
for another batch of 
babies, and this not 
once, nor twice, nor 
casually, but regu¬ 
larly, until the 
second brood were 
well matured. In¬ 
stinct! Instinct! say 
you? But, wherefor? 
Is it not rather a 
foregleam of ethical 
life, an out-cropping 
of that altruistic 
tendency which hints 
a deeper kinship with 
the birds than we 
have yet confessed? 
And real gallantry 
between the sexes 
Taken in Modoc County 
Photo by the Author 
778 
NEST AND EGGS OF WESTERN BLUEBIRD 
‘“American Birds/' by Wil¬ 
liam Lovell Finley (1907). P- 170 
