IN THE CATSKILLS 



more than a moment of time, while that of his mate 

 extends over days and weeks, if not months. 1 



In migrating northward, the males precede the 

 females by eight or ten days; returning in the fall, 

 the females and young precede the males by about 

 the same time. 



After the woodpeckers have abandoned their 

 nests, or rather chambers, which they do after the 

 first season, their cousins, the nuthatches, chicka- 

 dees, and brown creepers, fall heir to them. These 

 birds, especially the creepers and nuthatches, have 

 many of the habits of the Picidce, but lack their 

 powers of bill, and so are unable to excavate a nest 

 for themselves. Their habitation, therefore, is al- 

 ways second-hand. But each species carries in some 

 soft material of various kinds, or, in other words, 

 furnishes the tenement to its liking. The chicka- 

 dee arranges in the bottom of the cavity a little 



1 A recent English writer upon this subject presents an array 

 of facts and considerations that do not support this view. He 

 says that, with very few exceptions, it is the rule that, when^both 

 sexes are of strikingly gay and conspicuous colors, the nest is such 

 as to conceal the sitting bird ; while, whenever there is a striking 

 contrast of colors, the male being gay and conspicuous, the female 

 dull and obscure, the nest is open and the sitting bird exposed to 

 view. The exceptions to this rule among European birds appear 

 to be very few. Among our own birds, the cuckoos and blue jays 

 build open nests, without presenting any noticeable difference in 

 the coloring of the two sexes. The same is true of the pewees, 

 the kingbird, and the sparrows, while the common bluebird, the 

 oriole, and orchard starling afford examples the other way. 



128 



