FAR AND NEAR 



wanted to know what had brought spring so sud- 

 denly. 



How rapidly birds live ! Their demand for food is 

 almost incessant. This colony of mine appear to 

 feed every eight or ten minutes. Their little mills 

 grind their grist very rapidly. Once in my walk upon 

 the sea beach I encountered two small beach birds 

 running up and down in the edge of the surf, keep- 

 ing just in the thin, lace-like edging of the waves, 

 and feeding upon the white, cricket-like hoppers 

 that quickly buried themselves in the sand as the 

 waters retreated. I kept company with the birds 

 till they ceased to be afraid of me. They would feed 

 eagerly for a few minutes and then stop, stand on 

 one leg and put their heads under their wings for 

 two or three minutes, and then resume their feeding, 

 so rapidly did they digest their food. But all birds 

 digest very rapidly. 



My two woodpeckers seldom leave the tree upon 

 which the food is placed. One is a male, as is shown 

 by his red plume, and the other a female. There is 

 not a bit of kindness or amity between them. Indeed, 

 there is open hostility. The male will not allow the 

 female even to look at the meat while he is feeding. 

 She will sidle around toward it, edging nearer and 

 nearer, when he will suddenly dart at her, and 

 often pursue her till she leaves the tree. Every hour 

 in the day I see him trying to drive her from the 

 neighborhood. She stands in perpetual dread of him 



186 



