THE GOLDEN-WINGED WOODPECKER. 141 
of Spring, ever on the go, uttering at frequent inter- 
vals his loud, clear, and not unpleasant cry. See with 
what assiduous devotion he and his mate assist each 
other in picking a hole into the solid heart of some 
sturdy oak ; listen to the strokes of their bills ; see 
the chips how they fly, and then call them sleepy 
birds. And when the cares of a brood are devolving 
upon them, they ply their busy bills with renewed 
activity, searching every nook and cranny that comes 
in their way for the daintiest worms, which they bear 
away to their young. See one of these birds when 
pursued by a Hawk - just as he is almost within the 
talons of his rapacious foe, he suddenly dives into a 
hole near by, or in the absence of this, he alights 
upon a tree and plays bo-peep with his enemy around 
its trunk. It is truly laughable to see how he dodges 
his pursuer, and you would wonder at the Hawk for 
wasting his time over such nimble game. 
Westward of the Rocky Mountains there is a 
Woodpecker found almost precisely similar to the 
above, except that the under surface of the wings 
and tail are orange-red, the shafts of each feather 
being bright vermilion. 
We must here reluctantly close our observations 
on this interesting group, leaving it to our readers to 
pursue the study, as inclination leads them, among 
the wild woods, where they will find some of the spe- 
cies abundant at all seasons of the year. 
The Cuckoo, although not strictly a climbing bird, 
belongs to the same order as the Woodpeckers, the 
arrangement of the toes and other characteristics 
