PHASES OP BIRD LIFE. 203 



woods were having a genuine flying-race. One tree 

 was selected as a point of departure, from whicii 

 they would start and fly around in a wide circle, — 

 perhaps their race-track, — always returning to the 

 same tree with loud chattering, which sounded like 

 shouts of applause. This exercise they kept up for 

 hours, always starting from the same tree and de- 

 scribing nearly the same circle. If it was not' a 

 contest of speed, I am at a loss to know what it 

 was. 



The woodpeckers, especially the youngsters, have 

 another game that has a decidedly human flavor ; it 

 is the game of bo-peep among the trunks and 

 branches of trees. A red-head will shy off" from his 

 companions, conceal himself somewhere behind a 

 tree-trunk, and then peep from his hiding-place in 

 an exquisitely comical way, until he is espied by 

 some sharp-eyed fellow-frolicker. A vigorous chase 

 will follow, as pursuer and pursued dash wildly away 

 among the trees. Sometimes, when the fugitive is 

 too hotly pursued, he will stop and keep his com- 

 panion at bay by presenting his long, spearlike bill 

 as a sort of bayonet. 



Another tree-climber, is the brown creeper. I 

 have described many of his pranks in the first 

 chapter of this volume. One November day I wit- 

 nessed a performance that beats the record. Two 

 creepers were hitching up the trunks of the trees in 

 their characteristic manner, when one of them sud- 

 denly dropped straight down about fifteen feet, 

 scarcely more than an inch from the trunk of the 



