does not seem to be particularly interested in
house-hunting until the arrival of the female, when the courtship
begins without delay, and the delicate purling song with the refrain,
"Dear, dear, think of it, think of it," and the low, two-syllabled
answer of the female is heard in every orchard. The building of the
nest is not an important function,--merely gathering of a few wisps and
straws, with some chance feathers for lining. It seems to be shared by
both parents, as are the duties of hatching and feeding the young. The
eggs vary in number, six being the maximum, and they are not especially
attractive, being of so pale a blue that it is better to call them a
bluish white. Two broods are usually raised each year, though three are
said to be not uncommon; for Bluebirds are active during a long season,
and, while the first nest is made before the middle of April, last year
a brood left the box over my rose arbor September 12, though I do not
know whether this was a belated or a prolonged family arrangement.

As parents the Bluebirds are tireless, both in supplying the nest with
insect food and attending to its sanitation; the wastage being taken
away and dropped at a distance from the nest at almost unbelievable
short intervals, proving the wonderful rapidity of digestion and the
immense amount of labor required to supply the mill inside the little
speckled throats with grist.

The young Bluebirds are spotted thickly on throat and back, after the
manner of the throat of their cousin, the Robin, or, rather, the back
feathers are spotted, the breast feathers having dusky edges, giving a
speckled effect.

The study of the graduations of plumage of almost any brightly colored
male bird from its first clothing until the perfectly matured feather
of its breeding season, is in itself, a science and a subject about
which there are many theories and differences of opinion by equally
distinguished men.

[Sidenote: The Food of the Bluebird.]

The food of the nestling Bluebird is insectivorous, or, rather to be
more exact, I should say animal; but the adult birds vary their diet at
all seasons by eating berries and small fruits. In autumn and early
winter, cedar and honeysuckle berries, the grape-like cluster of fruit
of the poison ivy, bittersweet and catbrier berries are all consumed
according to their needs.

Professor Beal, of the Department of Agriculture, writes, after a
prolonged study, that 76 per cent. of the Bl