12. My Pair of Bluebirds. de-võt'ed, attached, affectionate. mo-lésts', injures, disturbs. prog'e-ny, offspring. re-şerve', to keep. 1. THE bluebird, although it cannot equal many of our American songsters as a musical performer, is perhaps the most generally beloved of all. The fruitgrower has observed that it never eats his fruit, and the farmer is equally certain that it never molests his grain. Its food consists entirely of insects until late in autumn, when it will eat the berries of the pokeweed and those of the Virginia creeper. 2. We can always have a pair or more of these birds for pets, if we will take a little pains to make a suitable nesting-place for them. And they are not difficult to please. If we wish to have the nest low down where we can watch their pretty ways, the top of a post, over which a grapevine is trained, or any solitary post, is a good place to nail a box, or an old coffee-pot or gourdshell, anything that will protect them from storms. 3. If the post is low it will be necessary to nail narrow strips of board below the box, making four projecting arms from which we can stretch fine wire or stout twine to prevent cats from reaching the nest. 4. I have a pair that make their home in an old coffee-pot nailed to a grape-post, only a few feet from my study window. They are quite tame, and the male knows that he can drive me from the nest whenever he chooses. 5. The great secret in making pets of any of our song-birds is to heed promptly their scolding, and make them believe that they can drive us away. In a little while if we are gentle they will allow us to approach without scolding, and some birds will even allow us to handle their young. 6. The male bluebird is a most devoted partner, constantly watching over his mate while she sits on the eggs. He often comes quite near to my feet, and pulls out a fat cut-worm from the grass, and flies to the nest and feeds his mate. Even before she commences to set he seems to reserve the choicest morsels for her. 7. Some birds he will not allow to alight on the projecting arm of the post beneath his nest, without immediately driving them from the spot. He quickly pounces upon the little chattering wren, but the chipping sparrow can remain as long as it chooses, while the English sparrow is fiercely driven away. 8. It is very amusing to see alighting near the nest a bird that the bluebird dare not attack. A quarrelsome, noisy, great crested fly-catcher happened to alight on the vine just over the nest, and he stayed several minutes, keeping up his loud clamor. The male bluebird was on the next post, about ten feet distant, closely watching him, but evidently afraid of attempting to attack him. At last when the fly-catcher sailed away the bluebird followed him quite a distance, and then returned to the nest. His partner put her head out of the door, and they chatted over the matter in a low, sweet way. He was no doubt telling her that he had driven the hateful, noisy fellow away. 9. The paper-making wasp will sometimes drive away the birds and get possession of a box. At the rear of my house, under the eaves, is nailed a little earthen bird-house. This the wasps have considered their property for several years past, and have held it against repeated efforts of both wrens and bluebirds to obtain possession. 10. In the spring one queen wasp alone commences to build a new nest. But as summer advances her numerous progeny hatch and do not leave their home, but help the mother wasp to go on with the building and rear the young, until there is a large colony. 11. In the fall the males and the worker wasps die, but a large number of young queens live through the winter, under the bark of trees, in the cracks of old buildings, or in any place that will partially protect them against the winter weather. In the spring only one of these queens returns to the old home to start a new colony. The rest select new places. 12. Last fall, after the wasps had gone, I cleared away all the old nests that had been collecting for four or five years, until the upper part of the little house was quite filled with them. In the spring I 3 hoped the bluebirds would get possession, and would be able to hold it against a single wasp. 13. Spring came, and I was delighted - my plan had worked! Early in April a pair of bluebirds chose the little house that I had cleared, and began building their nest. But now a sunny day brought the wasps from their retreat, and one of the queens was resolved to keep the old home in the family. 14. She found it occupied by the birds, but she would not submit to any such arrangement. So it seemed that this wise queen consulted with her sister queens and asked them to help her expel the birds; for a large company-twenty or more- gathered about the little house. 15. The birds were much puzzled, standing a few feet distant, on a tree or top of the house, with sticks in their mouths uttering a faint protest. Every little while they would fly down and attempt to go on with their work, but the wasps would dart at them and drive them from the place. 16. This warfare continued two days; then came a cold storm, and no wasps were to be seen. Now the birds were happy, and went on with their building. But the next sunny day the war was resumed: the wasps were victorious, and the birds took a box several rods distant. After the war was over, all the wasps disappeared except the solitary queen that had chosen the home of her ancestors in which to rear her colony. LANGUAGE EXERCISE. I. What expression (1) means songster? What expression (6) means loving mate? What other birds are named in this piece besides the bluebird? II. Some compound words are formed by joining two simple words by the hyphen, as, fruit-grower Select six other compound words in this lesson. III. Write one or more sentences stating whether you have ever seen a bluebird, and telling something about it. 13. Bluebirds. 1. A MIST of green on the willows; And the brooklet stripes With silver hill and plain. 2. The snowdrop peeps to the sunlight Tells the heart, "Be strong: The darkest days will wane. And the bluebirds, the bluebirds Will always come again!" |