170 KNOWING BIRDS THROUGH STORIES 



side. Then began a series of acting that was so human 

 as to be amusing. The young lady looked up as if per- 

 fectly surprized, as much as to say, "Where did you 

 come from ? I did not suppose there was a young gentle- 

 man in all the woods/' He bowed and whicked, "How 

 do you do?^ She promptly flew away to the next tree, 

 wishing to have it distinctly understood that she did not 

 talk to strange young gentlemen. 



Picus sat still for a few minutes^ craning his neck to see 

 where she went, and then flew to the limb just above her, 

 precisely as she hoped and expected he would do. He 

 did not make his advances so boldly this time, but danced 

 about the limb, examining it on all sides very carefully for 

 a worm, while she sat demurely on her branch totally ob- 

 livious of his presence. When he became satisfied he was 

 getting nowhere by dancing about on his limb he hopped 

 down beside his lady love and began to whick, "Fine day 

 this morning.^' More insulted than ever, away she flew; 

 but while the^e were a thousand acres of trees to which 

 she might have gone she flew only fifty or sixty feet. 



This went on for perhaps an hour, when another gentle- 

 man flicker appeared on the scene and began to press his 

 suit. To an outside observer it was evident from the first 

 that this young lady had her heart set on Picus, but it 

 was far from her to let him discover this as yet. Accord- 

 ingly she received the attentions of the new arrival with 

 apparent favor and allowed him to alight on the limb 

 beside her and together they danced round and round the 

 limb, whickety, whickety, whicketying as friendly as could 

 be. Poor Picus did not seem to feel that matters had 

 gone far enough for him to have any particular rights 

 in the matter so away he went back to his can and began 



