THE BLUEBIRD OF THE UNITED STATES. 
103 
and quickens with fresh life the solemn groves of silver beech, deep- 
crimsoned ash, and yellow-leaved maple, Longfellow does not forget 
their feathered inhabitants. " Through the trees," he says, 
" The golden robin moves. The purple finch, 
That on wild cherry and red cedar feeds, 
A winter bird, comes with its plaintive whistle, 
And pecks by the witch-hazel, whilst aloud 
From cottage roofs the warbling bluebird sings." 
And again, in his Indian poem of " Hiawatha," lie says : — 
" In the thickets and the meadows 
Piped the bluebird, the owaissa ; 
On the summit of the ledges 
Sang the opechee, the robin." 
The robin, our familiar winter-guest, the bird whom men love 
best, who figures in all our poetry, and in so many of our childish 
traditions, needs no description here ; his habitat is as well known as 
his quaint little ways. But the bluebird holds no such place in 
English hearts. In the United States he is one of the earliest heralds 
of spring,* showing himself in the barn, the orchard, or the garden ; 
disappearing for a time if frost and snow return ; and then reappearing 
with his mate about the middle of March, to put in order the last 
year's nest — or, if that has been destroyed, to build a new one. Soon 
afterwards, another sociable little migrant, the house-wren, comes 
upon the scene, — and finding the hollow in the apple-tree already 
occupied, gives vent to his irritation by popping inside, when the 
owner is absent, and pulling out a twig or two ; taking care to 
decamp immediately the mischief is done. 
The bluebird is one of man's allies and friends; waging continual 
war against the insect-plagues, particularly against large beetles and 
other "hard-shelled" species. In the autumn, when insects fail, he 
turns to the berries of the sour-gum, and afterwards to those of the red 
cedar. Before winter comes, and its scarcity, he is oflf and away to 
" the still-vext Bermoothes," or the Bahamas, Jamaica, and Cuba; and 
* So Bryant : — 
" The bluebird chants, from the elm's long branches, 
A hymn to welcome the budding year " 
