110 IN THE MIDDLE COUNTRY. 



there, and I saw how firmly it was wedged in, 

 when the English sparrow discovered his store, 

 fell upon it, and dug it out. It was a good deal 

 of work for a strong-billed, persistent sparrow 

 to dislodge a grain thus placed. But of course 

 he never gave up till he could carry it off, 

 probably because he saw that some one valued 

 it ; for since he was unable to crack a grain that 

 was whole, it must have been useless to him. 

 Sometimes the woodpecker wedged the kernel 

 into a crevice in the bark of the trunk, then 

 broke it up, and packed the pieces away in other 

 niches ; and I have seen an English sparrow go 

 carefully over the trunk, picking out and eat- 

 ing these tidbits. That, or something else, has 

 taught sparrows to climb tree trunks, which 

 they do, in the neighborhood I speak of, with 

 as much ease as a woodpecker. I have repeat- 

 edly seen them go the whole length of a tall 

 elm trunk; proceeding by little hops, aided by 

 the wings, and using the tail for support almost 

 as handily as a woodpecker himself. 



The red-head's assumption of being monarch 

 of all he surveyed did not end with the break- 

 fast-table ; he seemed to consider himself guard- 

 ian and protector of the whole place. One even- 

 ing I was drawn far down on the lawn by a 

 peculiar cry of his. It began with a singular 

 performance which I have already described, 



