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BLUE-BIRD. 
“ it up, flies with it to her, spreads his wing over her and puts 
“ it in her mouth.”* If a rival makes his appearance, (for they 
are ardent in their loves), 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 be- 
loved 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 
{Motacilladomestica, House Wren), also arrives from the south, 
and finding such a snug birth pre-occupied, shows 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 
colour; and raises two, and sometimes three broods in a season; 
the male taking the youngest under his particular care while the 
female is again sitting. Their principal food are insects, particu- 
larly large beetles, and others of the coleopterous kinds that lurk 
among old dead and decaying trees. Spiders are also a favourite 
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 favourite dishes; and many other fruits and 
seeds which I have found in their stomachs at that season, which, 
being no botanist, I am unable to particularize. They are fre- 
quently 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 sub- 
ject to them than any I know, except the Woodcock. An ac- 
count of the different species of vermin, many of which I doubt 
♦ Letter from Mr. WUliam Bartram to the author. 
