BIRDS AND BRIGHT LEAVES 79 



grouse, with the inevitable crows, jays, chickadees, 

 and red-breasted nuthatches. Had my walk been 

 longer and into a more varied country, I should 

 have found gold-crested kinglets, winter wrens, 

 brown creepers, titlarks (perhaps), white-throated 

 sparrows, field sparrows, chippers, tree sparrows 

 (probably), and three or four kinds of wood- 

 peckers. 



And speaking of woodpeckers, I must allow 

 myself to boast that within the last few days I 

 have had exceptional luck with the big fellow of 

 them all, known in books as the pileated. On 

 the 9th I saw one and heard the halloo of an- 

 other, and on the 11th I saw two (together) and 

 heard a third. One of those seen on the 11th 

 shouted at full length, and at the top of his voice 

 while flying. 



The pileated woodpecker is a splendid bird. 

 A pity he cannot find himself at home in our 

 Massachusetts country. To see him here in New 

 Hampshire one might imagine that he belonged 

 with the mountains and would be homesick in 

 other company ; but if you would see him of tener 

 than anywhere else, you may go to a land where 

 there is scarcely so much as a hillock — - to the 

 peninsula of Florida. There or here, he is a great 

 bird. The brightest maple leaf that ever took 

 color was not so bright as his crest. 



