The Birds’ Calendar 
this species go south every fall. Less brilliant 
than the ‘‘ red-poll,’’ it is hardly less dressy, in 
black and white, with four yellow spots, on head, 
sides, and rump. The first three are variable, 
sometimes wanting, but the persistence and 
prominence of the fourth spot gives the name 
to the species. This has the habit of perching 
and flying higher than most of the family ; and 
there is nothing more aggravating than to have 
a small spécimen which you are unfamiliar with 
remain near the top of a tree, move about in- 
cessantly, and, just as you have reached a coigne 
of vantage, coolly fly off out of sight. 
s 
One morning, ina driving rain-storm, I start- 
ed out to explore the upper and less frequented 
part of the Park. Withan ardor that my moist 
surroundings could not dampen, it was still 
especially gratifying to find something new, for 
I soon discovered a (to me) unfamiliar species 
of nuthatch, the red-breasted. The only other 
one in this region, the white-breasted, can gen- 
erally be found in all our woods through the 
winter, and the red-breasted are probably rarer 
only in the sense that they winter farther south, 
and are with us a shorter time. If the white- 
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