WINTER NEIGHBORS 



Such a cavity makes a snug, warm home, 

 and when the entrance is on the under side 

 of the limb, as is usual, the wind and snow 

 cannot reach the occupant. Late in De- 

 cember, while crossing a high, wooded 

 mountain, lured by the music of fox-hounds, 

 I discovered fresh yellow chips strewing 

 the new-fallen snow, and at once thought 

 of my woodpeckers. On looking around I 

 saw where one had been at work excavating 

 a lodge in a small yellow birch. The orifice 

 was about fifteen feet from the ground, and 

 appeared as round as if struck with a com- 

 pass. It was on the east side of the tree, 

 so as to avoid the prevailing west and north- 

 west winds. As it was nearly two inches 

 in diameter, it could not have been the 

 work of the downy, but must have been 

 that of the hairy, or else the yellow-bellied 

 woodpecker. His home had probably been 

 wrecked by some violent wind, and he was 

 thus providing himself another. In digging 

 out these retreats the woodpeckers prefer 

 a dry, brittle trunk, not too soft. They go 

 in horizontally to the centre and then turn 

 downward, enlarging the tunnel as they go, 

 till when finished it is the shape of a long, 

 deep pear. 



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