FEATHERED PIONEERS 61 



What curious notes our blue jays have — a creak- 

 ing, wheedling, rasping medley of sounds coming 

 through the leafless branches. At this time of 

 year they love acorns and nuts, but in the spring 

 "their fancy turns to thoughts of" eggs and young 

 nestlings, and they are accordingly hated by the 

 small birds. Nevertheless no bird is quicker to 

 shout and scream *' Thief t Robber!" at some 

 harmless little owl than are these blue and yrhite 

 rascals. 



You may seek in vain to discover the first sign 

 of nesting among the birds. Scarcely has winter 

 set in in earnest, you wUl think, when the tiger- 

 eyed one of the woods — ^the great horned owl — 

 :will have drifted up to some old hawk's nest, and 

 laid her white spheres fairly in the snow. When 

 you discover her "horns" above the nest lining of 

 dried leaves, you may find that her fuzzy young 

 owls are already hatched. But these owls are an 

 exception, and no other bird in our lattitude cares 

 to risk the dangers of late February or early 

 March. 



March is sometimes a woodpecker month, and 

 almost any day one is very likely to see, besides 

 the flicker, the hairy or downy woodpecker. The 

 latter two are almost counterparts of each other, 

 although the downy is the more common. They 

 hammer cheerfully upon the sounding boards 

 which Nature has provided for them, striking slow 

 or fast, soft or loud, as their humour dictates. 



