PHASES OP BIRD LIFE. 205 



transfigure himself in the same way, except that his 

 entire crown became ruby. Probably the little 

 Chesterfield that can exhibit the most brilliant coro- 

 nal wins the sweetest damsel in the kinglet commu- 

 nity for a wifie. 



Perhaps, as a rule, our winter birds find the 

 season rather cold for play ; yet they often frolic in 

 the snow like children, even when they do not stalk 

 through it in quest of food. This is especially true 

 of the snow-birds and tree-sparrows. Birds are 

 especially fond of splashing in water. Even in the 

 winter-time, when it flows ice-cold into the stream 

 or pond from the melting snow on the banks, certain 

 birds will plunge into it, and enjoy their bath for 

 many minutes. They do not seem to be satisfied 

 with merely wetting their plumes, but remain in the 

 water, twinkling their wings and tails, much longer 

 than is actually necessary. Several times in the 

 autumn I have seen a large company of warblers of 

 different species taking a bath in a woodland pond. 

 How they enjoyed their ablutions ! Again and 

 again they would return to the water, as if loath to 

 quit it. 



To my mind, the flicker is'one of our most playful 

 birds, spite of his staid looks. I have seen a half- 

 dozen of these birds on a single tree, scudding 

 about after one another and calling, Zwick-ah 1 

 zwick-ah ! in their affectionate way. Not infre- 

 quently two of them will face each other, and begin 

 bowing in a vigorous style, turning their heads dex- 

 terously from side to side to avoid collision. This 



