36? tTbe Ma?st6e 
OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE WISCONSIN AUDUBON SOCIETY: 
One Year 50 Cents 
Single Copy 5 Cents 
Published by the Wisconsin Audubon Society at Madison, Wisconsin 
Entered as second class matter August 23, 1909, at Madison, Wis., under the act of Congress of March 3, 1879 
VOL. XV 
JANUARY, 1914 
No. 5 
AN INTERESTING BLUE BIRD FAMILY 
By L, Claude 
Near our home, there is a little plum 
thicket much beloved by bluebirds, and 
on the 26th of May, I saw a pair of 
blue birds near a hollow plum stub; 
they were caroling and talking to each 
other after the manner of happy blue 
birds and as the nest was still empty, 
it seemed as though they were congrat¬ 
ulating each other on having just fin¬ 
ished it. 
On the 28th there were three eggs in 
the nest; it was evidently the second 
brood as it was so late in the season. 
Now that the eggs were laid, the blue 
birds were very quiet, going to the 
nest and leaving it in silence. 
On the 13th of June, the young were 
hatched and the parents were busy at¬ 
tending to their wants, (hi the 17th, 
1 noticed that when the male bird 
came to feed the nestlings, he was fol¬ 
lowed by a fully hedged young blue 
bird, and the latter joined his father 
iu scolding me so severely, that they 
soon had an interesting audience of all 
the birds in the neighborhood, who 
were not too busy to come. 
When I came to visit the blue birds 
nest the next time, the male bird was 
followed by the same nestling, and the 
nestling held a worm in its beak. This 
seemed rather unusual, as young birds 
are apt to swallow their food promptly. 
The next day he appeared again with 
an insect; this time the little fellow 
came to the nest and leaning in, fed the 
young ones., then lingered looking in, 
as the old birds do. He was still very 
young himself, and when he came next 
time, evidently intending to feed the 
little ones, he uttered the low chatter¬ 
ing notes used only by young birds, 
and finally went away without giving- 
up his food. He was not as much 
afraid of me as his parents, though he 
watched me intently, and once when 
his mother was afraid to feed the nest¬ 
lings, he bravely came and did it. 
I soon saw that this young bird was 
learning to feed the other nestlings reg¬ 
ularly; though he was rather awkward 
about getting to the nest, and always 
had to hunt for a good place to alight 
when he came to it, instead of going 
directly to a certain spot as his parents 
did. 
The second day after I had first seen 
the young bird feeding the nestlings, 
he was working as regularly as his par¬ 
ents, feeding the young and cleaning 
the nest just as they did, except that 
(Continued on p. 39) 
