278 BIRD LIFE IN AN OLD APPLE-TREE 



rel with him as long as he kept to his own 

 domicile, but he could not tolerate them in the 

 same tree. 



It was a pretty sight to see this little blue- 

 coat charging the butternut through the trees. 

 The beak of the latter would click like a gun- 

 lock, and its harsh, savage voice was full of 

 anger, but the bluebird never flinched, and was 

 always ready to renew the fight. 



The English sparrow will sometimes worst 

 the bluebird by getting possession of the box or 

 cavity ahead of him. Once inside the sparrow 

 can hold the fort, and the bluebird will soon 

 give up the siege; but in a fair field and no 

 favors, the native bird will quickly rout the for- 

 eigner. 



Speaking of birds that build in cavities re- 

 minds me of a curious trait the high-hole has 

 developed in my vicinity, one which I have 

 never noticed or heard of elsewhere. 



It drills into buildings and steeples and tele- 

 graph poles, and in some instances makes itself 

 a serious nuisance. 



One season the large imitation Greek col- 

 umns of an unoccupied old-fashioned summer 

 residence near me were badly marred by them. 

 The bird bored into one column, and finding 

 the cavity — a foot or more across — not just 

 what it was looking for, cut into another one, 

 and still into another. Then he bored into the 

 ice-house on the premises, and in the sawdust 

 filling between the outer and inner sheathing 

 found a place to his liking. 



