62 BLUE BIRD. 



these islands abound with the cedar, it is highly probable that 

 many of those birds pass from our continent thence, at the 

 commencement of winter, to enjoy the mildness of that climate 

 as well as their favourite food. 



As the blue bird is so regularly seen in winter, after the 

 continuance of a few days of mild and open weather, it has 

 given rise to various conjectures as to the place of his retreat. 

 Some supposing it to be in close, sheltered thickets, lying to 

 the sun ; others the neighbourhood of the sea, where the air 

 is supposed to be more temperate, and where the matters 

 thrown up by the waves furnish him with a constant and 

 plentiful supply of food. Others trace him to the dark re- 

 cesses of hollow trees, and subterraneous caverns, where they 

 suppose he dozes away the winter, making, like Eobinson 

 Crusoe, occasional reconnoitering excursions from his castle, 

 whenever the weather happens to be favourable. But amidst 

 the snows and severities of winter, I have sought for him in 

 vain in the most favourable sheltered situations of the middle 

 States ; and not only in the neighbourhood of the sea, but on 

 both sides of the mountains.* I have never, indeed, explored 

 the depths of caverns in search of him, because I would as 

 soon expect to meet with tulips and butterflies there as blue 

 birds ; but, among hundreds of woodmen, who have cut down 

 trees of all sorts and at all seasons, I have never heard one 

 instance of these birds being found so immured in winter ; 

 while, in the whole of the middle and eastern States, the same 

 general observation seems to prevail, that the blue bird always 

 makes his appearance in winter after a few days of mild and 

 open weather. On the other hand, I have myself found them 

 numerous in the woods of North and South Carolina, in the 

 depth of winter ; and I have also been assured by different 

 gentlemen of respectability, who have resided in the islands 

 of Jamaica, Cuba, and the Bahamas and Bermudas, that this 



* I speak of the species here generally. Solitary individuals are 

 found, particularly among our cedar trees, sometimes in the very depth 

 of winter. 



