42 Trans. Acad. Sei. of St. Louis 



and are building their nests near human habitations, the 

 Nuthatches stick to the woods and avoid man as much 

 as they can in nesting time. But in winter they lose this 

 shyness, join roving troops of Titmice and come to our 

 fruit trees in the orchard and to our shade trees around 

 the dwellings, doing much good as insect destroyers. 



Chickadees and Tufted Tits belong to that small 

 coterie of permanent residents who try and mostly suc- 

 ceed in braving our winters. That they sometimes suc- 

 cumb to the cold, I have seen myself. After a cold night 

 a Chickadee fell lifeless from a tree in front of me and 

 a Nuthatch was found frozen stiff in the spout of a gutter 

 on our house in Old Orchard. The poor bird had crawled 

 in it, taking it for a safe place, not knowing that metal 

 is a good conductor of heat, becoming very cold at night 

 and taking off the warmth of the little body. But as a 

 rule we may assume that birds which take refuge in tree 

 holes can withstand very low temperatures and our 

 Chickadees and Titmice are happy and frolicking even in 

 the cold weather. Their food supply is always accessible, 

 insects and seeds serving them equally well for nourish- 

 ment. In search of these they wander in little troops, 

 never alone, but often accompanied by other birds, usually 

 Downies and Nuthatches, sometimes Creepers or King- 

 lets, a lively assemblage, welcome wherever they go, be it 

 forest or park, farm or city, never doing any harm, but 

 always lots of good. The Downy and the Hairy Wood- 

 pecker are permanent residents, often seen in pairs in 

 winter and therefore believed to remain mated the whole 

 year. It stands to reason that many other species could 

 furnish examples of permanent' mates, but it is not easy 

 to prove in species where male and female are not as 

 easily distinguished as in most of the Woodpeckers. Red- 

 birds, the sexes of which are easily told, are also found 

 keeping together in winter, as if mated for another year. 



While our Woodpeckers are very quiet in winter, they 

 are among the first to feel the impulse of love and are 



