WINTER BIRDS ABOUT BOSTON. 205 



of knowledge, — enough, and (especially) not 

 too much ! 



The brown creeper is quite as industrious and 

 good-humored as the kinglet, but he is less tak- 

 ing in his personal appearance and less roman- 

 tic in his mode of life. The same may be said 

 of our two black-and-white woodpeckers, the 

 downy and the hairy ; while their more showy 

 but less hardy relative, the flicker, evidently 

 feels the weather a burden. The creeper and 

 these three woodpeckers are with us in limited 

 numbers every winter ; and in the season of 

 1881-82 we h^d an altogether unexpected visit 

 from the red-headed woodpecker, — such a 

 thing as had not been known for a long time, 

 if ever. Where the birds came from, and what 

 was the occasion of their journey, nobody could 

 tell. They arrived early in the autumn, and 

 went away, with the exception of a few strag- 

 glers, in the spring ; and as far as I know have 

 never been seen since. It is a great pity they 

 did not like us well enough to come again ; for 

 they are wide-awake, entertaining creatures, and 

 gorgeously attired. I used to watch them in 

 the oak groves of some Longwood estates, but 

 it was not till our second or third interview 

 that I discovered them to be the authors of a 

 mystery over which I had been exercising my 

 wits in vain, a tree-frog's note in winter ! One of 



