22 BIRD STORIES FROM BURROUGHS 



ing seemed actually to have begun, three or four 

 of these birds might be seen, on almost any 

 bright morning, gamboling and courting amid 

 its decayed branches. Sometimes you would hear 

 only a gentle persuasive cooing, or a quiet con- 

 fidential chattering; then that long, loud call, 

 taken up by first one, then another, as they sat 

 about upon the naked limbs ; anon, a sort of 

 wild, rollicking laughter, intermingled with va- 

 rious cries, yelps, and squeals, as if some incident 

 had excited their mirth and ridicule. Whether 

 this social hilarity and boisterousness is in cele- 

 bration of the pairing or mating ceremony, or 

 whether it is only a sort of annual " house-warm- 

 ing" common among high-holes on resuming 

 their summer quarters, is a question upon which 

 I reserve my judgment. 



, Unlike most of his kinsmen, the golden-wing 

 prefers the fields and the borders of the forest 

 to the deeper seclusion of the woods, and hence, 

 contrary to the habit of his tribe, obtains most 

 of his subsistence from the ground, probing it 

 for ants and crickets. He is not quite satisfied 

 with being a woodpecker. He courts the society 

 of the robin and the finches, abandons the trees 

 for the meadow, and feeds eagerly upon berries 

 and grain. What may be the final upshot of this 

 course of living is a question worthy the atten- 



