138 IRDS'-NESTS. 



her life is far more precious to the species 

 than that of the male. The indispensable 

 office of the male reduces itself to little more 

 than a moment of time, while that of his 

 mate extends over days and weeks, if not 

 months. 1 



In migrating northward, the males pre- 

 cede the females by eight or ten days ; re- 

 turning in the fall, the females and young 

 precede the males by about the same time. 



After the woodpeckers have abandoned 

 their nests, or rather chambers, which they 

 do after the first season, their cousins, the 

 nut-hatches, chickadees, and brown creepers, 

 fall heir to them. These birds, especially 

 the creepers and nut-hatches, have many of 

 the habits of the picidce, but lack their pow- 



1 A recent English writer upon this subject presents an 

 array of facts and considerations that do not support this view. 

 He says that, with very few exceptions, it is the rule that, 

 when both sexes are of strikingly gay and conspicuous colors, 

 the nest is such as to conceal the sitting bird; while, when- 

 ever there is a striking contrast of colors, the male being gay 

 and conspicuous, the female dull and obscure, the nest is open, 

 and the sitting bird exposed to view. The exceptions to this 

 rule among European birds appear to be very few. Among 

 our own birds, the cuckoos and blue-jays build open nests, 

 without presenting any noticeable difference in the coloring 

 of the two sexes. The same is true of the pewees, the king- 

 bird, and the sparrows, while the common bluebird, the ori- 

 ole, and orchird starling afford examples the other way. 



