36 THE BABES IN THE WOOD. 



For a few days the woodpeckers were so timid 

 that I was unable to secure a good look at them. 

 The marked difference of manner, however, con- 

 vinced me that both parents were engaged in at- 

 tending upon the young family ; and as they grew 

 less vigilant and I learned to distinguish them, 

 I discovered that it was so. The only dissimi- 

 larity in dress between the lord and lady of the 

 golden-wing family is a small black patch de- 

 scending from the beak of the male, answering 

 very well to the mustache of bigger "lords of 

 creation." In coming to the nest, one of the 

 pair flew swiftly, just touched for an instant the 

 threshold, and disappeared within ; this I found 

 to be the head of the household. The other, 

 the mother, as it proved, being more cautious, 

 alighted at the door, paused, thrust her head in, 

 withdrew it, as if undecided whether to venture 

 in the presence of a stranger, and, after two or 

 three such movements, darted in. Always in 

 one minute the bird reappeared, flew at once out 

 of the wood, at about the height of the nest, 

 and did not come down till it reached, on one 

 side, an old garden run to waste, or, on the 

 other, far over the water, a cultivated field. At 

 that tender age, the young flickers received their 

 rations about twice in an hour. 



Although the golden-wings were silent, the 

 wood aroimd them was lively from morning till 



