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The Blue-Bird.

HE pleasing manners and social dis-

position of this little bird, entitle
him to particular notice. He is

one of the first messengers of

spring. Oh, how it used to gladden

my heart, as the snows of winter melted

away, to hear the first notes of this
sweet songster! I used to fancy that

the same individuals returned to my
father’s orchard, from year to year, and
that they recognized me when I welcom-
ed them to our dwelling.

The blue-bird is generally regarded as
a bird of passage. Still, I have known
pairs of them appear, in the latitude of
Connecticut, as early as the middle of
February, when the weather was unu-
sually warm for that season of the year.
Poor fellows! when they made so early

a visit, they invariably had to pay pretty
¥. 10

THE YCUTHTS CABINET.

   

151

ee A ELLIO LE LAINIE

dearly for it. ‘They were sure to encoun-
ter cold weather, and frequently severe
snow-storms. I have almost cried,
many a time, when I have thought of
what the dear little creatures must suffer
at such times.

The favorite spot for the nest of the
blue-bird is a hole in some old tree. An
apple tree suits him very well; and he
is more generally found in an apple orch-
ard, than anywhere else. It is to be
presumed that these birds do not them-
selves bore the holes in the tree where
they build their nest. I am inclined to
think, that those with whom I was ac-
quainted, when I was a little boy, appro-
priated the holes formerly made by the
woodpecker. After the nest is built,
the owners are sometimes obliged to
abandon it to other birds. The little
restless, fidgety, twittering wren, for in-

stance, loves just such a place as the
MY