218 STORIES OF BIRD LIFE 



days were such as birds much enjoy and they came to the 

 campus in numbers. In all, I counted twenty-one species. 

 A flock of forty-two meadow larks patrolled the campus 

 from gate to gate, through grove and open, searching for 

 food in the grass and among the fallen leaves. A downy 

 woodpecker which lives in the trees near the south build- 

 ing was to be seen each day. Early in the month he had 

 dug out with his bill a cavity for his winter bedroom in 

 the dead limb of a tree standing near the library. So 

 nice and cosy a retreat was it from the wind that early 

 in the evening he would often leave his friends, the chick- 

 adee and titmouse, with whom he had romped all day, and 

 hurrying off soon tumble into bed to dream away the long 

 winter night. 



Downy had a relative, the little Yankee sapsucker, which 

 came from the far North to spend the winter months on the 

 campus. He did not care for such noisy companions as the 

 downy 's friends, so he kept apart by himself, and at inter- 

 vals during the day would announce his whereabouts by 

 calling out in a plaintive voice. 



These two birds have a relative in common which came 

 to the holiday campus. This was their big, clumsy country 

 cousin, the yellow-hammer, or flicker. He hardly knew how 

 to behave himself among those large buildings, and twice 

 during the winter was almost caught while prowling 



