40 
OUR HOME BIRDS. 
When first the lone butterfly flits on the wing, 
When red glow the maples, so fresh and so pleasing, — 
Oh, then comes the blue-bird, the herald of spring, 
And hails with his warblings the charms of the season.’ 
Some one has called him ‘ the bird with the earth- 
tinge on his breast and the sky-tinge on his back 
but the tinge on his breast is a very reddish earth ; 
and he is said to resemble the English robiil in all 
but his blue back and wings. The blue-bird meas- 
ures nearly seven inches in length, and has remark- 
ably full, broad wings. In pictures the bird is usu- 
ally represented with wings expanded, perhaps to 
show them to better advantage. 
“ This beautiful harbinger of spring makes his 
appearance so suddenly that it has been well said he 
seems almost to have dropped out of heaven on some 
bright March morning, and seems at first to be a mere 
wandering voice in the air. Presently he is seen, sit- 
ting perhaps on a fence, and sending forth his mellow, 
cheerful notes, while his beautiful blue plumage shines 
in the sun with purple reflections, and appears to have 
been borrowed from the deep hue of the sky. He is 
one of the very handsomest of our home birds, and 
looks like some rare tropical visitor as he flashes 
among the branches of the bare trees. 
“ ‘ His voice, which is one of the earliest to be 
heard in the spring, is associated with the early 
