Alabama, ipi8. 67 



BLUEBIRD 



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THE bluebird is a veritable harbinger of spring and messenger of 

 good cheer; the "blue of the sky is upon his back and on his 

 breast the tints of its rosy dawn." As soon as weather conditions 

 permit, they set about house building, and after the inspection of all 

 available sites select a nesting box, a hole in a tree, a hollow post, 

 and upon a scant lining of soft grasses deposit from four to six pale 

 blue, rarely white, unspotted eggs. During the summer bluebirds 

 feed almost exclusively upon insects, such as grasshoppers, beetles, 

 moths and spiders, often flying to the ground for their capture. 

 The call is a short sweet warble, and the song a continued warbling. 



"Typical of all that is pleasing in bird life generally, the blue- 

 bird is especially cherished wherever it is found, and on esthetic 

 grounds alone is carefully protected. It ranges in the breeding 

 season throughout the United States east of the Rocky Mountains, 

 and remains in winter as far north as the southern parts of Illinois 

 and Pennsylvania. It is one of the most domestic of our wild feath- 

 ered friends and readily takes possession of the box erected for its 

 accommodation where it can be safe from cats and other prowlers, or 

 utiHzes crannies of farm buildings for its nest; its original homes, 

 however, were in such places as deserted woodpecker-holes or cavi- 

 ties in old stumps. These birds are usually abundant wherever found 

 and their numbers are maintained by the rearing of two and fre- 

 quently three broods a year, with from four to six young in each. 

 The food supply for such large families may well concern the 

 farmer, and he will be interested to learn what these birds relish 

 most. 



"In the animal food the largest portion is made up of orthop- 

 terous insects (grasshoppers, crickets, and katydids), totaling 20.53 

 per cent for the year. Most insects of this group are harmful and at 

 times very destructive. Second in importance in the diet are beetles 

 (18.79 per cent), made up in part of useful ground beetles (10.38 

 per cent of the total food), but in this item also are May beetles 

 (3.9 per cent), weevils, or snout beetles (1.13 per cent), and mis- 

 cellaneous related forms (3.38 per cent). The useful beetles are 

 sometimes eaten in such numbers as to detract from the esteem in 



