BLUE-BIRD. 57 



he quits her in a moment, attacks and pursues the intruder as he 

 shifts from place to place; in tones that bespeak the jealousy of his 

 affection, conducts him with many reproofs beyond the extremities 

 of his territory, and returns to warble out his transports of triumph 

 beside his beloved mate. The preliminaries being thus settled, 

 and the spot fixed on, they begin to clean out the old nest, and the 

 rubbish of the former year, and to prepare for the reception of their 

 future offspring. Soon after this another sociable little pilgrim 

 (Motacilla domestica. House W ren), also arrives from the south, 

 and finding such a snug birth pre-occupied, shews his spite, by 

 watching a convenient opportunity, and in the absence of the owner 

 popping in and pulling out sticks; but takes special care to make 

 off as fast as possible. 



The female lays five, and sometimes six, eggs, of a pale blue 

 color; and raises two, and sometimes three brood in a season; the 

 male taking the youngest under his particular care while the female 

 is again sitting. Their principal food are insects, particularly large 

 beetles, and others of the coleopterous kinds that lurk among old 

 dead and decaying trees. Spiders are also a favorite repast with 

 them. In Fall they occasionally regale themselves on the berries 

 of the sour gum; and as winter approaches, on those of the red 

 cedar, and on the fruit of a rough hairy vine that runs up and 

 cleaves fast to the trunks of trees. Ripe persimmons is another 

 of their favorite dishes ; and many other fruits and seeds which I 

 have found in their stomachs at that season, which, being no bota- 

 nist, I am unable to particularize. They are frequently pestered 

 with a species of tape-worm, some of which I have taken from their 

 intestines of an extraordinary size, and in some cases in great 

 numbers. Most other birds are also plagued with these vermin; 

 but the Blue-bird seems more subject to them than any I know, ex- 

 cept the Woodcock. An account of the different species of ver- 

 min, many of which I doubt not are non-descripts, that infest the 

 plumage and intestines of our birds, would of itself form an inte- 



ft. 



