218 TWO LITTLE DRUMMERS. 



ners " of a red -headed baby. I had returned 

 from my last morning's walk in the woods, and 

 was seated by my window, thinking half sadly 

 that my summer was ended, when I saw the 

 woodpecker come to the raspberries, gather one, 

 and fly away with it. Instead, however, of 

 heading, as usual, for the woods across the pas- 

 ture, he alighted on a fence near by. A small 

 dark head rose above the edge of a board, opened 

 a bill, and received the berry in it. Instantly I 

 turned my glass upon that meek-looking head. 

 So soon as the old bird disappeared the young 

 one came up in sight, and in a few moments flew 

 over to the nearer fence, beside the bushes. 

 Then one of the parents returned, fed him two 

 or three times, apparently to show him that ber- 

 ries grew on bushes, and not in the beak, and 

 then departed with an air that said, "There, 

 my son, are the berries; help yourself! " 



Left now to his own devices, the little wood- 

 pecker was my study for hours. He was like 

 his parents, except that he was gray where they 

 were red, and the white on the wings was barred 

 off with a dark color which on theirs did not ap- 

 pear. Like young creatures the world over, he 

 at once began to amuse himself, working at a 

 hole in the top of a post, digging into it vehe- 

 mently, and at last, after violent effort, bring- 

 ing out a stick nearly as long as himseK. This 



