OUR HOME BIRDS. 
41 
flowers and with all pleasant vernal influences. 
When he first arrives he perches upon the roof of 
a barn or upon some leafless tree, and delivers his 
few and frequent notes with evident fervor, as if 
conscious of the pleasures that await him. A single 
note, pensively modulated, is one of the melodies of 
the summer’s decline, and reminds us, like the note 
of the green nocturnal tree-hopper, of the ripened 
harvest, the fall of the leaf, and of all the joy- 
ous festivals and melancholy reminiscences of 
autumn.’ „ 
“ The blue-bird’s nest is frequently made in the 
hollow of an old tree, several generations building 
year after year in the same spot ; and in these places 
the young ones are secure from all enemies. Five 
or six pale-blue eggs are found in the nest at once, 
and, like many other birds, there are two or three 
broods in a season. A whole family will sometimes be 
seen in the summer and autumn perched on mullein- 
stalks, and watching for a supply of provisions in 
the shape of passing insects. The young ones seem 
to be taking lessons from their parents, who will spy 
a beetle crawling on the grass at quite a distance, 
pounce on it with a sudden spring, and return to the 
mullein-stalk with their prey, singing all the while. 
They are very fond of spiders, and in the autumn 
they usually add berries to their frequent repasts. 
4* 
