VI. 



THE GOLDEN-WING. 



ONE of the special objects of my search dur- 

 ing a certain June among the hills of northern 

 New York was a nest of the golden-winged 

 woodpecker ; not that it is rare or hard to find, 

 but because I had never seen one and had read 

 attractive stories of the bird's domestic rela- 

 tions, the large number of young in the nest, 

 and his devotion, and pride. Moreover, I had 

 become greatly interested in the whole family, 

 through my attachment to an individual mem- 

 ber of it in my own house. 



I soon discovered that the orchard at the 

 back of the house was visited every day by a 

 pair of the birds I was seeking. One was seen 

 running up and down a trunk of a large poplar- 

 tree, and the next morning two alighted on a 

 dead branch at the top of an apple-tree, perch- 

 ing like other birds on twigs, which seemed too 

 light to bear their weight. But they were ap- 

 parently satisfied with them ; for they stayed 



