224 THE GREAT NORTH-WEST 



cherry-tree is now and then met with. Moreover these 

 birds, like all others found in the like habitat, are very 

 scarce. It is evidently only a few of them that penetrate 

 beyond the outskirts of the forest. 



There are also woodpeckers in the recesses of the 

 forest; yet even these naturally wood-seeking birds do 

 not seem to be numerous, though they are difficult to 

 discover. You hear them tapping the trees ; but though 

 they cannot have been much disturbed by man, they are 

 so extremely cautious that you may look for a bird that 

 is close at hand for an hour, and then not discover it. 

 There are at least a dozen species in these forests, some 

 green, some grey, and some variegated ; but I obtained, 

 and therefore identified, but very few of them. Amongst 

 the best known was the flicker, or golden-winged wood- 

 pecker, Colaptes auratus, and a bird known locally as " the 

 marshal," and sometimes " the soldier," the specific name 

 of which I have not, I find, any record. It is a very 

 gaudy woodpecker with a great deal of scarlet in the 

 colour of its plumage. 



There are also owls in these forests, the long-eared, 

 Asio americanus, which does not, in my opinion, differ 

 from Asio otus. It may be described as a local variety 

 of that bird. There are several other species, or varieties, 

 of owls ; but these I cannot identify with certainty, the 

 gloom of the forest making it exceedingly difficult to 

 recognise a bird when seen, perhaps, but for a moment. 



Among mammals the commonest are squirrels, grey 

 and black; most of the other small animals of this 

 region being nocturnal and therefore rarely seen. The 

 polecat (Mustela americana) is the most conspicuous of 

 these. There are also chipmunks (Tamias striatus), but 

 I am not sure that I have given the absolutely correct 

 specific name of this little animal, because the chipmunk 

 of the Ohio forests seemed to vary somewhat from the 

 common chipmunk found farther south ; also there were 

 clearly local varieties even in this limited district. 



