SIDE LIGHTS ON BIRDS 



There is a bird, for instance, carefully examining 

 the decayed stumps, and again hanging back 

 downwards. From its characteristic movements 

 and tittering cry, it is plainly one of the titmice. 

 It has much of the colouring of our own coal-tit, 

 but is obviously larger. 



It permits the nearest approach, and we have 

 now no hesitation in putting it down as the black- 

 capped titmouse, the chickadee of Canada. 



Soon the familiar tapping from a tree marks 

 the presence of a woodpecker. From the distant 

 glimpse of black and gold that we are able to 

 obtain as it flits through the broad green leaves, 

 as well as from its large size, we take it to be the 

 golden-winged species, usually named the high- 

 hole, from the situation of its nesting site. 



At this point, we find ourselves in a lovely little 

 glade, nearly bare of trees, but with dense walls of 

 forest on either hand. Wild flowers grow all 

 around in vast profusion. Many butterflies 

 flit by, and their unfamiliar hues often force us to 

 pause and endeavour to repolish our dull memory 

 of the characteristics of the New World's lepidop- 

 tera, Two species however, stand out beyond all 

 question. Drooping from the skies, a great 

 butterfly, with golden-brown wings sharply veined 

 with black (the black- veined brown), alights on a 

 little blossom almost at our feet, and a little 

 distance away, slowly opening and closing its 

 black and yellow wings, is a gorgeous swallow-tail. 



Here too, on the high flowering bank of the little 

 clearing we get a glimpse of another curiously 

 butterfly-like, or rather moth-like form. Like 

 a green jewel on wings it winds swiftly through 

 the topmost stems, checks its course for a second 

 before some tempting flower as though about to 

 alight, goes on again, and at last stops abruptly 

 on wings quivering so rapidly that they seem 



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