Page:Bird-lore Vol 04.djvu/88

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My Bluebirds

BY LAWRENCE F. LOVE. Cleveland. 0. (Aged 11. years.’

NE day in February, I put up three bird-boxes, two large ones and 0 one small one, hoping that a Wren would take the small box. Soon I saw some Bluebirds, Of course I began to watch them to

ﬁnd where they were going to nest First they began to build in a hole in an old apple tree, but the Sparrows seemed to think it belonged to them and they gathered in great numbers to drive the Bluebirds away. A kind Robin helped them to defend it, but in the end the Sparrows conquered, and my bluecoats began to look around for a new nesting place. They tried one of the houses, but did not seem satisﬁed with it, Finally, one Sunday morning near the middle of April, I saw the dull-bluish female carrying straw to the box nearest the house. Even there the Sparrows troubled them, but the Bluebirds drove them off. One day when the eggs were laid the Juncos joined with the Sparrows in an attack. It is impos- sible to say which side was defeated, but the Sparrows bothered the Blue birds but little afterward. On lVIay 14, the young ones came out of the nest. There were ﬁve. Three were brownish on the back, with a little blue on the tail. Their breasts were grayish, spotted with brown. The other two had more blue about the head and back; I think these two were males. One of these was the ﬁrst to ﬂy, and he ﬂew to the ground besides a porch, where a dog stood looking down on him. I put him into the nest, but he ﬂew out again, and got into the lower branches of a tree. One of the others ﬂew into another tree, and the others soon followed. Then a venturesome one ﬂew, but was stopped by a house. After resting on a window sill for a moment, his mother coaxed him into a tree. In the meanwhile, the rest had ﬂown, and for a while the old birds were busy teaching them to ﬂy well. Then the little ones roosted in the top of a high apple tree. The next morning the parents were engaged in feeding them, and such appetites! The one that ﬁrst ﬂew was the weakling, and did not learn to ﬂy well for several days. Then I missed them for some days, and thought they had learned to care for themselves. But one afternoon I heard the familiar call. and looking up into a tree, found them. Now they acted like ﬂy catchers, ﬂying into the air like ﬂy catchers, and returning to their original perch. They were strong in ﬂight, and it was difﬁcult to tell them from the old ones,

They were beginning to care for themselves and were developing a voice of sweetness.

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