WHERE BIRDS ROOST, 123 
or dead branches lying on the ground, for roost- 
ing-places. 
A discovery was also made in regard to the 
sleeping-apartments of the red-headed woodpecker. 
As the dusk was gathering, a red-head dashed in front 
of me into the border of the woods, alighting on 
a sapling stem, and then began to shuffle upward. 
toward a hole plainly visible from where I sat; but 
just as he reached the hole, another red-head 
appeared with a challenging air on the inside of 
the cavity, and red-head number one darted away 
with a cry of alarm. Now was my time to discover, 
if possible, where red-head number two would roost. 
So I kept a close watch on the cavity, waiting about, 
as previously said, until nightfall, and then, keeping 
my eye on the hole, so that the bird could not fly 
out without being seen, I made my way to the sap- 
ling. Intently watching the hole with my glass, I 
tapped the stem of the tree with my heel, when, in 
the moonlight, a red head and long, black beak 
were protruded from the opening above. The wood- 
pecker was within, that much was proved; and when 
I had beaten against the tree, he had sprung up to 
the orifice to see who was thus impolitely disturbing 
his evening slumbers. He turned his head sidewise, 
and looked down at me with his keen beady eyes , 
but although I tapped against the tree again and 
again, he would not leave the cavity. There can be 
no doubt that it was his bedroom, — that cosey apart- 
ment in the sapling, —for it was still too early in 
the season for the bird to begin nesting, as he had 
