1 93 Birds Every Child Should Know 



roofs everywhere are popular tapping places. 

 Certain dry, dead, seasoned limbs of hardwood 

 trees resound better than others and a wood- 

 pecker in love is sure to find out the best one in 

 the spring when he beats a rolling tattoo in the 

 hope of charming his best beloved. He has no 

 need to sing, which is why he doesn't. 



Fence posts are the red-head's favourite rest- 

 ing places. From these he will make sudden 

 sallies in mid-air, Hke a fly-catcher, after a pass- 

 ing insect; then return to his post. 



You remember that the blue jay has the 

 thrifty habit of storing nuts for the proverbial 

 rainy day, and that the shrike hangs up his 

 meat to cure on a thorn tree like a butcher. 

 Red-headed woodpeckers, who are especially 

 fond of beechnuts, acorns and grasshoppers, 

 hide them away, squirrel fashion, in tree cavi- 

 ties, in fence holes, crevices in old barns, be- 

 tween shingles on the roof, behind bulging 

 boards, in the ends of railroad ties, in all sorts 

 of queer places, to feast upon them in winter 

 when the land is lean. Who knows whether 

 other woodpeckers have hoarding places ? The 

 sapsucker, the hairy and the downy wood- 

 peckers also like beechnuts ; the flicker prefers 

 acorns; but do they store them for winter use? 

 The red-head's thrifty habit was only recently 

 discovered: has it been only recently acquired? 

 It must be simpler to store the summer's sur- 



