£56 UNDER THE OPEN SKY 



dry trunk, and there they raise their downy 

 family. 



He is one of the few birds we have that 

 stay with us all the year round. In the quiet 

 of the winter woods, the heart of the walker 

 is cheered when he hears the gentle "rat- 

 tat-tat-tat" of the pecker's work, and the 

 subdued "twit, twit-chee, chee, chee" of his 

 gentle voice. If it were not for these little 

 noises you would be very apt to miss seeing 

 him, for he is a speckled dweller on a 

 speckled trunk. His only touch of color is 

 the splash of red across the back of the neck, 

 and even this scanty adornment is denied his 

 wife. It is the old common trick in the males 

 of birds to monopolize the colored clothing 

 and to leave the plainer garb to their mates. 



But not all the interest in this tree centres 

 around its feathered visitor. About its base, 

 peering through the snow, are the long, 

 hearty-looking fronds of the Christmas fern. 



FERNS IN WINTER 



The Creator has fashions in plants, and 

 the ferns are quite old-fashioned. There 



