166 BIRD-LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



such localities, when we come to deal with the bird- 

 life frequenting them. We have had many excep- 

 tionally good opportunities of studying the actions 

 of this charming bird. It not only frequents the 

 large massive timber, showing, by the way, an 

 especial preference for elms, but may frequently 

 be seen in small trees. It alights in the slender 

 topmost branches with as much agility as it 

 clings to the bark of limbs and trunk. When 

 so perched we have seen it hopping about from 

 twig to twig, sometimes taking a hop of a yard 

 or more, the slender branches bending beneath its 

 weight. On one occasion we watched a Green 

 Woodpecker for some ten minutes perched in the 

 top of a small elm below which we were standing. 

 It never stirred from its perch, but every few 

 moments turned its head from side to side as if 

 on the look-out for any approaching danger; and, 

 finally, when it uttered its clear-sounding hi-hi-hi, 

 we were absolutely startled by the loudness of its 

 tone. Then we have repeatedly watched it fly up 

 to the foot of some tree there is one special tree, 

 dead from root to summit, where we have seen 

 the same thing several times and commence its 

 search for insects, first on one side, then on the 



