. Handbook of nature-study for teachers and parents, based on the Cornell nature-study leaflets. Nature study. Bird Stiidy 6i. Bluebird at the entrance of its nest. From Country Life m America, be wound around the tree or post below the box. If the box for the nest is placed upon a post the barbed wire will also protect it from the squirrels. The eggs are bluish white; the young birds, in their first feathers, are spotted on the back and have whitish breasts mot- tled with brown. The food of the nestlings is almost entirely insects. In fact, this bird during its entire life is a great friend t
. Handbook of nature-study for teachers and parents, based on the Cornell nature-study leaflets. Nature study. Bird Stiidy 6i. Bluebird at the entrance of its nest. From Country Life m America, be wound around the tree or post below the box. If the box for the nest is placed upon a post the barbed wire will also protect it from the squirrels. The eggs are bluish white; the young birds, in their first feathers, are spotted on the back and have whitish breasts mot- tled with brown. The food of the nestlings is almost entirely insects. In fact, this bird during its entire life is a great friend to man. The food of the adult is more than three-fourths insects and the remainder is wild berries and fruits, the winter food being largely mistletoe berries. It makes a specialty of in- jurious beetles, caterpil- lars and grasshoppers, and never touches any of our cultivated fruits. We should do everything in our power to encourage and protect these birds from their enemies, which are chiefly cats, squirrels and English sparrows. The migration takes place in flocks during autumn, but it is done in a most leisurely manner with frequent stops where food is plenty. The bluebirds we see in September are probably not the ones we have had with us during the summer, but are those which have come from farther north. They winter largely in the Gulf States; the writer has often heard them singing in midwinter in Southern Mississippi. The bluebirds seem to be the only ones that sing while at their winter resorts. They live the year round in the Bermudas, contrasting their heavenly blue plumage with the vivid red of the cardinals. The bluebird should not be confused with the indigo bunting; the latter is darker blue and has a blue breast. References—Bulletin, Some Common Birds in Their Relation to Man, U. S. Dept. of Agr.; Bulletin, The Food of Nestling Birds, U. S. Dept. of Agr.; Birds in Their Relation to Man, Weed & Dearborn, pp. 86-88; Nature-Study and Life, Hodge, chapters 18-2
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