Wifttvt K StttmeU amoolreraft 29 



the piliated woodpecker, a very wild and 

 rare bird, sixteen or eighteen inches in 

 length, and the most beautiful of all the 

 woodpeckers, but only once were we 

 fortunate enough to see him. 



On some of these long tramps we 

 learned that both the blue jay and the 

 bittern are spies or sentinels, and when 

 they hear or see any one coming through 

 the woods they quickly spread the news 

 and put the wood folks on their guard. 



I have heard the woods ringing with 

 bird calls and the chatter of squirrels, but 

 at a call from a noisy jay it would be- 

 come as quiet as though entirely deserted. 



There were wonderful songsters that 

 we stole quietly upon, at the edge of the 

 woods, or found in low bushes along 

 the swamps. The veery and the hermit 

 thrush are two of the sweetest singers 

 that ever trilled a note, not to mention 



