THRUSHES, BLUEBIRDS, ETC. 403 
     
    
   
   
    
     Nova Scotia; winters from southern Illinois and southern New York south- 
     
    
   
   
    
     ward. 
     
     Washington, common P. R. Sing Sing, common P. R. Cambridge, com- 
     
    
   
   
    
     mon S. R., Mob. 6 to Nov. 1 ; more numerous during migrations, in Mch. and 
     
    
   
   
    
     Nov. 
     
     N'est, of grasses, in hollow trees or bird-houses. Eggs, four to six, bluish 
     
    
   
   
    
     White, sometimes plain white, '85 x '65. 
     
    
   
   
    
     A bird so familiar as the Bluebird needs no introduction; in fact, 
     
     he seems so at home in our orchards and gardens or about our dwell- 
     
     ings that one wonders what he did for a home before the White man 
     
     came. 
     
    

    
     In the winter, it is true, Bluebirds are greater rovers, and one may 
     
     see them in the Southern States whirling through the woods in great 
     
     flocks or feeding on the berries of the mistletoe. But the warmth of 
     
     returning spring reminds them of cozy bird—boxes or hospitable pear 
     
     or apple trees, and soon we see them inspecting last summer’s home, 
     
     evidently planning repairs and alterations. 
     
    

    
     The Bluebird’s disposition is typical of all that is sweet and amia- 
     
     ble. His song breathes of love; even his fall call-note—tqir-wee, tar- 
     
     wee—is soft and gentle. So associated is his voice with the birth and 
     
     death of the seasons that to me his song is freighted with all the glad- 
     
     ness of springtime, while the sad notes of the birds passing southward 
     
     tell me more plainly than the falling leaves that the year is dying.