1876.] Certain Phases of Bird-Life. 365 
but under the dry droppings of the cattle. Here is an in- 
stance where accident, it may be, gave origin to — and expe- 
rience has confirmed into — a habit, a decided variation from 
normal woodpecker life. Now, a young woodpecker leaving 
its nest June 1st, if dissociated from its kind, would never 
leave the woodlands, and, seeking the pasture-fields, over- 
turn dry chips of cow-dung, in search of crickets ; but such 
young birds will naturally follow their parents thither,-— and 
this is just ‘the case, for the larger proportion of birds killed 
in October, in such localities, are the young of the pre- 
ceding summer. 
In conclusion, with reference to young birds, I believe 
they leave their nests totally ignorant, and naturally imitate 
their parents. What this imitation secures to them, in the 
way of knowledge, they perfect by experience ; and this ex- 
plains the variation in the habits of the same birds, so 
noticeable when studied in localities widely distant and 
greatly differing in character. 
Let us turn our attention now to adult birds ; and, with 
reference to them, I would refer particularly to two phases 
of their life-habits that have interested me exceedingly. 
The first of these points is the ingenuity so frequently dis- 
played in procuring food. By the exercise of ingenuity, I 
mean instances of the attacking bird (in cases of birds of 
prey) being at first outwitted by the pursued, and, after re- 
peated efforts availing nothing, ceasing its aggressive move- 
ments ; then considering the causes of failure, planning a 
new method of adtion, and, having corredtly judged the 
difficulties, finally succeeding. This, at least, is the manner 
in which I interpret the following instance : — - 
While out watching our winter birds, January 22nd of this 
year, I was caught in quite a hard shower, and sought 
shelter under a group of three large, dense cedars. Like 
myself, driven in from the adjoining meadows by the in- 
creasing rain, came a dozen or more sparrows, which, 
settling among the branches, commenced dressing their 
feathers and twittering cheerily. In a few moments after 
came, with a rush and loud chirp, a gay cardinal. If the 
sparrows did not acknowledge his presence with a low bow, 
each, at any rate, took a lower branch, leaving him on his 
elevated perch like a monarch on his throne. But he was 
fated to be molested, for, scarcely had he become fairly 
settled, and his feathers smoothed, when a sparrow-hawk 
rushed through the tree, with a zigzag movement, endea- 
vouring to seize him or one of his attendant sparrows. 
Failing in this, the hawk hovered about a few moments, 
