how Solomon
finished that beautiful description of spring, "and the voice of the
turtle is heard in our land," and see that a description of spring in
this farming country, to be equally characteristic, should culminate in
like manner,--"and the call of the high-hole comes up from the wood." It
is a loud, strong, sonorous call, and does not seem to imply an answer,
but rather to subserve some purpose of love or music. It is "Yarup's"
proclamation of peace and good-will to all.

I recall an ancient maple standing sentry to a large sugar-bush, that,
year after year, afforded protection to a brood of yellow-hammers in its
decayed heart. A week or two before the nesting seemed actually to have
begun, three or four of these birds might be seen, on almost any bright
morning, gamboling and courting amid its decayed branches. Sometimes you
would hear only a gentle persuasive cooing, or a quiet confidential
chattering; then that long, loud call, taken up by first one, then
another, as they sat about upon the naked limbs; anon, a sort of wild,
rollicking laughter, intermingled with various cries, yelps, and
squeals, as if some incident had excited their mirth and ridicule.
Whether this social hilarity and boisterousness is in celebration of the
pairing or mating ceremony, or whether it is only a sort of annual
"house-warming" common among high-holes on resuming their summer
quarters, is a question upon which I reserve my judgment.

[Illustration: FLICKER]

Unlike most of his kinsmen, the golden-wing prefers the fields and the
borders of the forest to the deeper seclusion of the woods, and hence,
contrary to the habit of his tribe, obtains most of his subsistence from
the ground, probing it for ants and crickets. He is not quite satisfied
with being a woodpecker. He courts the society of the robin and the
finches, abandons the trees for the meadow, and feeds eagerly upon
berries and grain. What may be the final upshot of this course of living
is a question worthy the attention of Darwin. Will his taking to the
ground and his pedestrian feats result in lengthening his legs, his
feeding upon berries and grains subdue his tints and soften his voice,
and his associating with Robin put a song into his heart?

* * * * *

In the cavity of an apple-tree, much nearer the house than they usually
build, a pair of high-holes took up their abode. A knot-hole which led
to the decayed interior was enlarged, t