TWELVE WINTER BIRDS. 271 



about the middle of April and remaining until mid- 

 October. During that time he is the most common 

 species of the family, holding his own with perfect 

 ease and ceaseless familiarity. In traveling through 

 the country, during the spring and summer, one hears 

 them screaming in the adjoining woods, rattling on 

 the dead limbs of trees, or on the fences, along which 

 they are perpetually seen flitting from stake to stake 

 on the roadside ahead. 



In southern Indiana, and especially within the shel- 

 tered confines of the Wabash valley as far north as 

 Terre Haute, the red-head usually remains through- 

 out the winter in small numbers. But in those sea- 

 sons when beechnuts are plentiful he hoards or stores 

 up a supply of them for winter food and then remains 

 in large numbers, even to the northern boundaries of 

 the State. As soon as the nuts begin to ripen in 

 autumn, the birds appear to be almost constantly on 

 the wing, to and fro, from the beech trees to some 

 place of deposit. They hide away the nuts in 'almost 

 every conceivable situation. Many are placed in cav- 

 ities in partially decayed trees; and the felling of any 

 old tree near a beech grove is certain to disclose a 

 pint or more of their chosen winter food. Another 

 favorite storing place is beneath the loose bark of the 

 hickory, or behind some long sliver of fence post or 

 rail. Sometimes the nuts are driven into the cracks 

 at the end of railroad ties. Again they may be found 

 in the crevices between the shingles on the roofs of 

 barns or even houses. A friend, who is a close 

 observer, also relates that the holes which are bored 

 into the beams and logs of old cribs and sheds for the 



