me time--the sparrow, the robin, the phoebe-bird--are clad in
neutral tints, gray, brown, or russet; but the bluebird brings one of
the primary hues and the divinest of them all.

This bird also has the distinction of answering very nearly to the
robin redbreast of English memory, and was by the early settlers of
New England christened the blue robin.

It is a size or two larger, and the ruddy hue of its breast does not
verge so nearly on an orange, but the manners and habits of the two
birds are very much alike. Our bird has the softer voice, but the
English redbreast is much the more skilled musician. He has indeed a
fine, animated warble, heard nearly the year through about English
gardens and along the old hedge-rows, that is quite beyond the compass
of our bird's instrument. On the other hand, our bird is associated
with the spring as the British species cannot be, being a winter
resident also, while the brighter sun and sky of the New World have
given him a coat that far surpasses that of his transatlantic cousin.

It is worthy of remark that among British birds there is no blue bird.
The cerulean tint seems much rarer among the feathered tribes there
than here. On this continent there are at least three species of the
common bluebird, while in all our woods there is the blue jay and the
indigo-bird,--the latter so intensely blue as to fully justify its
name. There is also the blue grosbeak, not much behind the indigo-bird
in intensity of color; and among our warblers the blue tint is very
common.

It is interesting to know that the bluebird is not confined to any one
section of the country; and that when one goes West he will still have
this favorite with him, though a little changed in voice and color,
just enough to give variety without marring the identity.

The Western bluebird is considered a distinct species, and is perhaps
a little more brilliant and showy than its Eastern brother; and
Nuttall thinks its song is more varied, sweet, and tender. Its color
approaches to ultramarine, while it has a sash of chestnut-red across
its shoulders,--all the effects, I suspect, of that wonderful air and
sky of California, and of those great Western plains; or, if one goes
a little higher up into the mountainous regions of the West, he finds
the Arctic bluebird, the ruddy brown on the breast changed to a
greenish blue, and the wings longer and more pointed; in other
respects not differing much from our species.