202 BIRD PARADISE 



taking a trip to the sunny South. If I were a 

 woodpecker, as I am an observer, I think I should 

 hie away to the soft air and open fields of the 

 summer clime. But woodpecker no doubt knows 

 his own business and adopts the best scheme pos- 

 sible for his welfare. There is something in a 

 true character, practically oblivious to the chang- 

 ing moods of the weather, that is more or less in- 

 spiring. Our winter birds appear to present this 

 kind of character, and what is more noticeable, 

 to rejoice in it. In the great ravine on the north 

 side of Bird Paradise I find the woodpeckers 

 usually when they are scarce everywhere else. 

 The place has all the conditions of a winter resort 

 for the fellows and they improve their oppor- 

 tunity. I have not been there this winter, and 

 it may be that the dearth of birds is in vogue 

 there as elsewhere. Two of the gray woodpeck- 

 ers and three or four sapsuckers make up the 

 count in my lawn trees so far this season. 



It is seldom that a flock of wild geese is seen in 

 our hill country. Last week a merry company 

 of a hundred or more passed over on their way to 

 their winter home. To the young people of the 

 party every step of the way was a revelation. I 



