1H2 LIFE-HISTORIES OF BIRDS 



ently ridiculous incidents which constitute so conspicuous 

 a part of the courting business of our smaller aves manifest- 

 ed in the disposition of the species under notice. The males 

 apparently select the same females during successive seasons, 

 unless deprived thereof by various fortuitous circumstances. 



A pair of these birds once built in a particular tree in 

 German town, which they continued to occupy on each 

 annual return of the breeding-period, the female retaining 

 complete possession thereof during the intervening time for 

 roosting purposes. The male sought shelter in the same 

 clump of trees, but in a different hollow. As these were the 

 only denizens of the locality , being protected from danger and 

 encouraged to build upon the spot by a kind-hearted gentle- 

 man, it is evident, in this particular instance, that the same 

 pair renewed their former love on each return of the breed- 

 ing-period. 



As soon as the sexes become paired, they start off in quest 

 of a suitable hollow. In the case of young birds, no little 

 time is spent in looking around the country for one of requi- 

 site capacity ; old birds, as before remarked, nidificating in 

 the same tree year after year, unless driven away per force. 

 In an orchard, an apple-tree is most generally preferred, in 

 close proximity to the farmvard, if one w T ith a suitable cavity 

 can be obtained. The hole generally chosen is one which 

 had been previously wrought out by the Golden-shafted 

 Woodpecker at an expense of great pains and effort. Where 

 this kind of a cavity does not exist, a decayed hollow stump 

 with sufficient depth is rendered available. In wooded re- 

 gions considerably remote from human habitations, and even 

 in such localities when an orchard is not nearby, the different 

 species of oak are called into requisition, and the nest de- 

 posited either in a perforated, or in a natural cavity. In the 

 former case the nests are seldom at a greater height than five 

 or six feet above the ground, while in the latter they are 

 often placed at an elevation of forty feet and upwards. The 

 only indications of a nest are the few dried leaves, grasses, 



