106 IN THE MIDDLE COUNTRY. 



does not succeed in driving out the singer. A 

 running accompaniment of harsh and intermina- 

 ble squawks overpowers the music of meadow- 

 lark and robin, and the glorious song of the 

 thrush is fairly murdered by it. One could al- 

 most forgive the sparrow his other crimes, if he 

 would only lie abed in the morning ; if he would 

 occasionally listen, and not forever break the 

 peace of the opening day with his vulgar brawl- 

 ing. But the subject of English sparrows is 

 maddening to a lover of native birds ; let us not 

 defile the magic hour by considering it. 



The most obvious resident of the neighbor- 

 hood, at four o'clock in the morning, was al- 

 ways the golden-winged woodpecker, or flicker. 

 Though he scorned the breakfast I offered, hav- 

 ing no vegetarian proclivities, he did not refuse 

 me his presence. I found him a character, and 

 an amusing study, and I never saw his tribe so 

 numerous and so much at home. 



Though largest in size of my four o'clock 

 birds, and most fully represented (always ex- 

 cepting the English sparrows), the golden-wing 

 was not in command. The autocrat of the hour, 

 the reigning power, was quite a different per- 

 sonage, although belonging to the woodpecker 

 family. It was a red-headed woodpecker who 

 assumed to own the lawn and be master of the 

 feast. This individual was marked by a defect 



