OUR HOME BIRDS. 
269 
again mounts with fresh activity, piping his unisons 
as before. 
“ 4 Strongly attached to his native forests, he seldom 
forsakes them, and amidst the rigors of the severest 
winter weather his note is still heard in the bleak 
and leafless woods and among the howling branches. 
Sometimes the rain, freezing as it falls, encloses 
every twig, and even the trunk of the tree, in a 
hard, transparent coat or shell of ice. On these oc- 
casions I have observed his anxiety and dissatisfac- 
tion at being with difficulty able to make his way 
along the smooth surface; at these times generally 
abandoning the trees, gleaning about the stables, 
around the house, mixing among the fowls, enter- 
ing the barn, and examining the beams and rafters 
and every place where he may pick up a subsist- 
ence.’ 
44 This bird builds its nest in the hole of a tree, in 
a hollow rail in the fence, and sometimes in the wood- 
en cornice under the eaves, and there are five eggs 
of a dull white, spotted with brown at the large end. 
4 The male is extremely attentive to the female while 
sitting, supplying her regularly with sustenance, 
stopping frequently at the mouth of the hole, call- 
ing and offering her what he has brought in the 
most endearing manner. Sometimes he seems to 
stop merely to inquire how she is, and to lighten 
23 * 
