224 BIRD PARADISE 



seem to impart a summer air to what otherwise 

 would be regarded as a winter scene. The two 

 species — red and wliite breasted — are given in 

 the sketch and if one of them should sound the 

 peculiar call of the bird the picture would be 

 complete. These birds bear a close resemblance 

 to chickadees and sapsuckers and are easily mis- 

 taken for those birds. Their movements, while 

 very similar to the ones above named, have some 

 turns peculiar to the species. They seem to be 

 the real acrobats of the bird host. No other bird 

 gets up and down the trunk of the tree with the 

 perfect ease of these fellows. Head downward is 

 their favorite attitude and I am told they fre- 

 quently sleep in this position. They are adepts 

 at shaping their nests. In some half decayed 

 branch they excavate a hole eight or ten inches 

 deep. This they line with some soft material 

 and after rearing their young make it their home 

 for the remainder of the year. I scarcely ever 

 see them in my lawn trees only in the winter. 

 No other bird excels them in good-natured friend- 

 liness. I never see them quarreling with other 

 birds and among themselves they pass the time 

 in the fellowship of a household that is a unit 

 in its common aims and work. On the old farm 

 in my boyhood they were daily visitors during 



