PHASES OP BIRD LIFE. 163 



way these lords and ladies of woodpeckerdom make 

 their royal obeisances. 



On a pleasant day in February two downy wood- 

 peckers were " scraping acquaintance." The male 

 pursued his sweetheart about in the trees after the 

 manner of his kind ; but occasionally she would 

 stand at bay and apparently challenge him to come 

 nearer if he dared. Then both of them would lift 

 their striped forms to an almost perpendicular posi- 

 tion, their heads and beaks pointing straight toward 

 the sky, and their bodies swaying grotesquely from 

 side to side. This little comedy over, the finical 

 miss bolted to another tree, with her cavalier in hot 

 pursuit. 



Coy as the feathered ladies usually seem, many of 

 them apparently are genuine flirts, and would feel 

 greatly disappointed should their lovers give over the 

 chase. They evidently want to be won, but not too 

 easily. (Perhaps it might be said, en passant, there 

 are belles in other than the bird community who resort 

 to similar naive and winsome ruses.) In a shady 

 nook of the woods I once saw a gallant towhee 

 bunting employing all the arts at his command to 

 win a damsel who seemed very demure. He was an 

 extremely handsomely formed and finely clad bird, — 

 a real ddition de luxe. He flew down to the ground, 

 picked up a brown leaf in his bill, and flourished it 

 at her, as much as to say, " It is time for nest-build- 

 ing, dear." Then he spread his wings and hand- 

 some tail, and strutted almost like a peacock about 

 on the leafy ground. But, no, she would not, and 



