82 WINTER NEIGHBORS. 



sing that morning and tlie first screaming of the ciiv 

 cling hawks, and about seven o'clock the first drum- 

 ming of my little friend. His first notes were uncer- 

 tain and at long intervals, but by and by he warmed 

 up and beat a lively tattoo. As the season advanced 

 he ceased to lodge in his old quarters. I would rap 

 and find nobody at home. Was he out on a lark, I 

 said, the spring fever working in his blood ? After a 

 "ime his drumming grew less frequent, and finally, in 

 i;he middle of April, ceased entirely. Had some acci- 

 lent befallen him, or had he wandered away to fresh 

 i&elds, following some siren of his species ? Probably 

 the latter. Another bird that I had under observa- 

 tion also left his winter-quarters in the spring. This, 

 then, appears to be the usual custom. The wrens and 

 the nut-hatches and chickadees succeed to these aban- 

 doned cavities, and often have amusing disputes over 

 them. The nut-hatches frequently pass the night in 

 them, and the wrens and chickadees nest in them. I 

 have further observed that in excavating a cavity for 

 a nest the downy woodpecker makes the entrance 

 smaller than when he is excavating his winter-quar- 

 ters. This is doubtless for the greater safety of the 

 young birds. 



The next fall, the downy excavated another limb in 

 the old apple-tree, but had not got his retreat quite 

 finished, when the large hairy woodpecker appeared 

 upon the scene. I heard his loud cliche clicks early 

 one frosty November morning. There was something 

 impatient and angry in the tone that arrested my at- 

 tention. I saw the bird fly to the tree w^here downy 

 had been at work, and fall with great violence upon 

 the entrance to his cavity. The bark and the chips 

 flew beneath his vigorous blows, and before I fairly 



