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BLUE-BIRD. 
The slow lingering schoolboys forget they'll be chid, 
While gazing intent as he warbles before 'em 
In mantle of sky-blue, and bosom so red, 
That each little loiterer seems to adore him. 
When all the gay scenes of the summer are o'er, 
And autumn slow enters so silent and sallow, 
And millions of warblers, that charmed us before, 
Have fled in the train of the sun-seeking swallow; 
The Blue-bird, forsaken, yet true to his home, 
Still lingers, and looks for a milder to-morrow, 
Till forced by the horrors of winter to roam, 
He sings his adieu in a lone note of sorrow. 
While spring's lovely season, serene, dewy, warm, 
The green face of earth, and the pure blue of heaven, 
Or love's native music have influence to charm, 
Or sympathy's glow to our feelings is given, 
Still dear to each bosom the Blue-bird shall be; 
His voice, like the thrillings of hope, is a treasure; 
For, through bleakest storms if a calm he but see, 
He comes to remind us of sunshine and pleasure! 
The Blue-bird, in summer and fall, is fond of frequenting open pasture 
fields; and there perching on the stalks of the great mullein, to look 
out for passing insects. A whole family of them are often seen, thus 
situated, as if receiving lessons of dexterity from their more expert 
parents, who can espy a beetle crawling among the grass, at a consider- 
able distance ; and after feeding on it, instantly resume their former 
position. But whoever informed Dr. Latham that "this bird is never 
seen on trees, though it makes its nest in the holes of them !"* might 
as well have said, that the Americans are never seen in the streets, 
though they build their houses by the sides of them. For what is there 
in the construction of the feet and claws of this bird to prevent it from 
perching? Or what sight more common to an inhabitant of this 
country than the Blue-bird perched on the top of a peach or apple-tree ; 
or among the branches of those reverend broadarmed chestnut trees, 
that stand alone in the middle of our fields, bleached by the rains and 
blasts of ao-es ? 
O 
The Blue-bird is six inches and three-quarters in length, the wings 
remarkably full and broad ; the whole upper parts are of a rich sky 
blue, with purple reflections ; the bill and legs are black ; inside of the 
mouth and soles of the feet yellow, resembling the color of a ripe per- 
simmon ; the shafts of all the wing and tail feathers are black ; throat, 
neck, breast, and sides partially under the wings, chestnut ; wings dusky 
black at the tips ; belly and vent white ; sometimes the secondaries are 
* Synopsis, v. n., pp. 446-40. 
