66 



A-BIRDING ON A BRONCO. 



California Woodpecker. 

 (One half natural size.) 



had been rented by a 

 pair of well-meaning 

 but suspicious Califor- 

 nia woodpeckers, first 

 cousins of the eastern 

 red-heads. 



It is unpleasant to 

 be treated as if you 

 needed detectives on 

 your track. It strains 

 your faith in human 

 nature ; the rest of the 

 world must be very wicked if people suspect such 

 extremely good creatures as you are! And then 

 it reflects on the detectives ; it shows them so 

 lacking in discernment. Nevertheless, " A friend 

 should bear his friend's infirmities," and I was 

 determined to be friends with the woodpeckers. 

 One of them kept me 

 waiting an hour one 

 morning. When I first 

 saw it, it was on its tree 

 trunk, but when it first 

 saw me, it promptly left 

 for parts unknown. I 

 stopped at a respectful 

 distance from its tree — 

 several rods away — and Re d-headed Woodpecker - 

 threw myself down on Eastern. 



the Warm Sand in the (One half natural size.) 



