Evening star., 1902-01-18
NATURE STUDIES
Why City People Should Love and
Develop Them. $50
TIE RED-HEADED VOODPECKER'S WAY
Likes the Early Fruits as We'll as
the Small Boy Does.
HIS HOME-MAKING TRAITS

A great many persons think that to know
and love the study OF nature one must be
thoroughly versed in the scheme of classi-
| ficsstion as fixed by man. But IS ali this
necessary? Who gets the greater pleasure
out OF life I'm the woods and fleIds-the man
who in his study can analyze and classify
a specimen. or the one who at a glance
recognizes some dear friend OF nature?
one sees In the specimen a part OF a sys-
TEN which has been mapped out by man
and is merely arbitrary; the other, although
he may have name for the specimen,
has a gush of memories Ill his brain and
he knows. almost instinctlvely. where 1t
lives and something OF fits life
To admire a glorious sunset Il Is not
| necessary to be scientist and be able to
understand the laws of light and know how
the suns rays are caught up and broken
on soft, feecy bits of vapor until they glow
a thousand shades. 1t Is simply necessary
that you love nature made manifest from
day to day, and that you cultivate this
same subtle pleasure and appreciation.
This love of the beautiful in nature IS sus-
ceptible of cultivation just as the love OF
art. music and literature.
Get that pleasure which Is without alloy
from close communication with nature and
let the wine of the golden sunshine FIJI
your veins. With the fine climate which
people IN almost every part of the United
States enjoy and the facilities for rapid
! transportation to parks. there is no reason
why city people should not know and love
nature better.
The common red-headed woodpecker IS
probably one OF our best known birds. His
brilliant coat of contrasting red, white and
black makes him a very conspicuous bird.
and one not readily mistaken after once
being seen. What a noise Is made by a
hand Of these jolly red heads when the
first fruits begin to ripen. Their quarrel
some notes now Will bring back to my
memory old gnarled orchard, knee deep
in grass. and in the hollow below. two
large mulberry trees almost covered with
great luscious. mauve berries. 1t was al
ways a race between the redheads and the
| boys as to which could eat the most OF this
early fruit. Even as a boy could not
for the trees afforded more than boys and
birds could possibly eat -.ra-
Like All Kinda.
Beginning with the mulberries, the red
heads take all fruit in season. IL you hear
| them in one particular portion of the or
chard. you may depend upon il that the
finest and ripest fruit is there. But this
| bird certainly ought to be welcome TO the
fruit he eats, for he is an indefatigable
worker in dead and dying timber. ridding IL
of many noxious insects Often at evenings
approach. and when small beetles begin to
| fly upward against the Hight of the setting
sun. the red-head climbs to the top of some
dead tree or a telegraph pole and takes the
beetles in true fy-catcher fashion
When the farmer swears vengeance on
the squirrels and the blackbirds for damag-
ing his corn, it is not infrequently due TO
the woodpeckers. A red-head will hang on
the end of an Of corn and tear away
the husk to get the soft, sweet, young
grain. After the corn has hardened and the
orchards are stripped Of their fruit. he
| turns his attention to acorns and beech
nuts and will often lay up store for
| winter use. Then when the first hard frost
| falls he gets blue-back pokeberries In the
overgrown fence corners He also feeds on
the hard, aromatic hackberries and wild
grapes.
Like the rest of the woodpecker family
the red-head is an ardent lover. but. haV-
ing no voice with which to relieve his feel
ings, he turns drummer and rattles merry
tattoos to his lady love. He is very fond
OF good rattling music too. and hunts
about until he finds a fine, hard. dry limb
which will respond to his laboring bill
he beats his passion into music. All
| through the spring and early summer the
drumming continues. but as the nesting
season advances and the cares and duties
| of married life become greater the red
head drums less and less. BY August he
has almost ceased his peculiar music, and
If he should attempt it, it is a weak and
light tattoo, which cannot compare with
| the sharp, quick drumming Of early spring
when Song Goes.
This habit of losing song or its equivalent
is common among all birds just at the close
Of the nesting period In late summer and
fall even the gray of early dawn cannot
coax single song. In May and June the
first CLEAN which pushes the night back
from the eastern hills starts the sylvan
chorus. What a chorus! From wood and
field and thcket IL rises In varied tones all
full of the joyousness of living. fitting
matin to welcome the god of day and ma
ture. As the sun climbs higher most of the
songsters cease their music and hurry
about their everyday affairs r
Notice what a splendid climber the red
head Is. He goes up and up. around and
around yonder high dead tree with abso-
lutte ease. He never makesAa slip. claw
never fails to take a good hold. Catch one
then you will not wonder at his easy mo
tions when climbing. He, like every other
child Of nature, IL nodded perfectly to fll
his place IN life; he Ia built from head TO
him as he hunts for insects In the dead
wood. He taps gently at their door to
know il they are at home. and as they do
close to the wood to listen II there Is any
movement within. Yes. his sharp ear
catches the sound Of tiny insect feet scurry-
ing through passages In the dead wood
He soon locates the exact spot. throws him
self well back against his stin tan. and his
head becomes a hazy red blur as II ffes
back and forth driving chips from the
wood with the stout bill. The power and
precision of these strokes must be very
great. for he makes the chips fly from the
hard timber.
Hole I'm d Tree.
The nest of this woodpecker is like that
of the rest of the family. beautiful round
ed hole in some dead tree. The eggs are
pure white and rather eIliptical in shape.
When the young leave the nest they are
very differently colored from the parent
birds. The head is dusky gray and a great
many feathers back and wings are
tinged with this same color. The white on
the wing is not so pure and clear as IL is
In the adult birds
The Pistol Habit.
From the New YORK Tribune.
Fire-eating chivalry is on the way to ex-
tinction in the south Public opinion, rec
o,ntzipS the foolishness of old-t time ideas