The Birds and Poets 109 



found the opening to the nest, some twenty feet 

 from the ground. 



As I lay in the grass the hole in the tree was 

 just out of sight, but I could see the tail of the 

 bird protruding at right angles with the upright 

 trunk as it stopped momentarily on its way into 

 the nest, and, watching that particular point of 

 the side of the trunk, the bird's red head soon 

 appeared again. After a moment's survey it would 

 fly out to catch more insects for the young birds. 

 In addition to being a "grubber," the red-head is 

 quite an accomplished flycatcher, and during the 

 half hour that I watched this pair feeding their 

 young, they were almost constantly darting out 

 from the old dead branches of the sycamore, catch- 

 ing insects on the wing. Not once did I see either 

 bird alight, woodpecker fashion, on an upright 

 stem of tree or limb. ' 



This was also a second or third brood, no doubt, 

 as the red-heads begin nesting from the loth to 

 the 15th of May. 



The red-head is the most beautiful of our wood- 

 peckers, and Mr. Burroughs speaks of his flight 

 through the woods as "connecting the trees by a 

 gentle arc of crimson and white." 



Resuming my saunter down the bank of the 

 stream, I came to an open grove in which were 

 a large number of thorn apple trees and bushes, 

 which seemed most favorable nesting places for 

 the cedar waxwing, and I resolved to keep a 

 sharp lookout for the little domicile of this July 



