PHASES OF BIRD LIFE. 203 
woods were having a genuine flying-race. One tree 
was selected as a point of departure, from which 
they would start and fly around in a wide circle, — 
perhaps their race-track, — always returning to the 
same tree with loud chattering, which sounded like 
shouts of applause. ‘This exercise they kept up for 
hours, always starting from the same tree and de- 
scribing nearly the same circle. If it was not a 
contest of speed, I am at a loss to know what it 
was. 
The woodpeckers, especially the youngsters, have 
another game that has a decidedly human flavor ; it 
is the game of bo-peep among the trunks and 
branches of trees. A red-head will shy off from his 
companions, conceal himself somewhere behind a 
tree-trunk, and then peep from his hiding-place in 
an exquisitely comical way, until he is espied by 
some sharp-eyed fellow-frolicker. A vigorous chase 
will follow, as pursuer and pursued dash wildly away 
among the trees. Sometimes, when the fugitive is 
too hotly pursued, he will stop and keep his com- 
panion at bay by presenting his long, spearlike bill 
as a sort of bayonet. 
Another tree-climber is the brown creeper. I 
have described many of his pranks in the first 
chapter of this volume. One November day I wit- 
nessed a performance that beats the record. ‘Two 
creepers were hitching up the trunks of the trees in 
their characteristic manner, when one of them sud- 
denly dropped straight down about fifteen feet, 
scarcely more than an inch from the trunk of the 
