BLUE-BIRD. 
319 
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-moiTow, 
Tin forced by the horrors of winter to roam, 
He sings his adieu in a lone note of son'ow. 
Wliile spring’s lovely season, serene, dewy, warm. 
The green face of earth, and the pure blue of heav’n. 
Or love’s native music have influence to charm, 
Or sympathy’s glow to om’ feelings are giv’n, 
StUl 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 pleasime ! 
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 dex- 
terity from their more expert parents, who can espy a beetle 
crawling among the grass, at a considerable distance; and after 
feeding on it, instantly resume their former position. But who- 
ever 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 ages? 
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 
Synopsis, v, ii, p. 446 — 40. 
