ON BOSTON COMMON. 25 



of; but instead of handling the leaf on the 

 ground, he flew with it to the trunk of an elm, 

 wedged it into a crevice of the bark, and pro- 

 ceeded to hammer it sharply with his beak. 

 Great is the power of habit ! Strange is it 

 not? that any bird should find it easiest to 

 do such work while clinging to a perpendicular 

 surface ! Yes ; but how does it look to a dog, 

 I wonder, that men can walk better on their hind 

 legs than on all fours ? Everything is a mira- 

 cle from somebody's point of view. The spar- 

 rows were inclined to make game of my oblig- 

 ing little performer ; but he would have none 

 of their insolence, and repelled every approach 

 in dashing style. In exactly three weeks from 

 this time, and on the same hillside, I came upon 

 another nuthatch similarly employed ; but be- 

 fore this one had turned up a leaf to his mind, 

 the sparrows became literally too many for him, 

 and he took flight, to my no small disappoint- 

 ment. 



It would be unfair not to name others of my 

 city guests, even though I have nothing in par- 

 ticular to record concerning them. The Wilson 

 thrush and the red-bellied nuthatch I have seen 

 once or twice each. The chewink is more con- 

 stant in his visits, as is also the golden-winged 

 woodpecker. Our familiar little downy wood- 

 pecker, on the other hand, has thus far kept 



