IDYLLS OF BIRD LIFE 
are the most extensively eaten. The largest item of the blue¬ 
bird’s food consists of orthoptera, grasshoppers, crickets and 
others of the same species. The insects of this species are harm¬ 
ful and when numerous, are very destructice, as they prey en¬ 
tirely upon the farmer’s crops. It seems almost a provision of 
Nature, that all birds are especially fond of these insects. 
Several species of other insects are eaten by the bluebird, , 
such as spiders, which are consumed more extensivelv by the 
bluebird, than by the robin, sow bugs, angleworms and snails. 
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The vegetable diet of the bluebird consists mostly of fruity 
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of which practically all is of a wild variety. Some chertie§T 
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rasperries and blackberries have been identified in 1 ’ nr 
stomachs, but not enough to do any harm. The largest quantity" 
of wild fruit eaten by the bluebird is in December, while in May 
no fruit of any kind is eaten. The fruit-eating period of the 
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bluebird is not in the Summer, but from October to February, 
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when nearly all the fruit is waste fruit and when species of in- 
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sects are very scarce. Seeds are seldom, if ever, eaten by the 
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bluebird. A few grains of wheat, bay berry and sumac, com¬ 
plete the seed diet of the bluebird. 
Summing up the diet of the bluebird shows that this bird 
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is one of our most valuable insectivorous bipeds and one that 
