SPRING ARRIVAL OF THE BIRDS. 29 
body are white and pale yellow, with black, heart- 
shaped spots. A broad collar of jet black separates the 
throat and breast, while a crimson crescent ornaments 
the back of the head, and-reaches to the eye. The 
under sides of the wings and tail and-also all the quill 
shafts are a bright golden yellow. 
For nesting places they generally select a dry stub or 
the decayed top of a live tree, chisel out a circular hole 
a few inches horizontally, and then work downward a 
foot or more, excavating a cavity large enough at the 
bottom to contain the brood of five or six young birds ; 
six is the usual number. The nest is placed from five 
to fifty feet from the ground, according to convenience. 
I have seen them in stumps and also in the boles of 
apple trees within reach of the hand. I remember a 
large beech that stood just on the edge of my father’s 
woods. The tree had limbs nearly all the way up its 
trunk. A few feet from the top was dead, and in this 
decayed part, just under the node of a broken limb, 
and at least fifty feet from the ground, a pair of high- 
holes excavated a nest which they used for four consec- 
utive years. I say the same pair, for I easily recognized 
both of the birds, and used to watch with much interest 
for their annual return. Probably every day during 
the four years from the time the first egg was deposited 
till the young birds flew away, I climbed to the 
nest to examine the state of affairs and see how the 
family was getting along. The old birds, shy at first, 
became accustomed to my daily visits, and soon showed 
very little concern about my presence, and both would 
