SWAMP WHITE-OAK BEXD. 113 



niU oak. Like their cousins, the flickers, these also 

 probably make more holes for nests in one year than 

 they can occupy in a dozen. In this they prove a bless- 

 ing to others, as the bluebirds and great crested fly- 

 catchers use them, unless ousted, as is too apt to be the 

 case, by the gray squirrels. 



I am free to confess that woodpeckers, as a family of 

 birds, have failed to interest me. There is little if any 

 mystery about them, and several species being resident, 

 they are every-day features of an out-door ramble. You 

 may see one or many in June or January, and they are 

 always the same : agile climbers over the upright branch- 

 es of trees, picking, pecking, hammering as they go. Xo 

 birds so seldom induce me to pause, when passing through 

 the woods ; yet once I had a pleasant surprise, due to 

 the cunning of a pair of woodpeckers. During a violent 

 snow- squall I took shelter behind an old walnut-tree, 

 nearly four feet in diameter; and while standing there, 

 partly shielded from the storm, a pair of beautiful red- 

 headed woodpeckers suddenly appeared immediately 

 above my head, having, like me, taken refuge from the 

 cutting north wind and driving snow. The moment 

 they were at rest they saw me, and with a shrill chirp 

 again took wing, but as suddenly reconsidered the mat- 

 ter, and eying me very closely, concluded to risk what- 

 ever danger there might be in my presence, rather than 

 face such a snow-storm. I could only assure them by 

 remaining perfectly quiet, and for a quarter of an hour 

 I stood like a statue, and they sat near by, in a pain- 

 fully alert attitude, ready to face the storm if I moved. 

 As rapidly as the snowing commenced it stopped, and 



