THE WILDERNESS IN JUNE 253 



cutting, and the many important matters that 

 go to make up Woodpecker education. 



But alas for my expectations ! Their departure 

 was by night, when quietly the whole brood 

 slipped into the forest, and not even a glimpse of 

 the youngsters have I had, although the old 

 birds are still seen about the clearing. 



The father of this family seems to be some- 

 thing of a humorist In the early morning he 

 often mounts to the roof of a cabin and beats a 

 lively tattoo on the dry splits which project a 

 foot or more above the ridge. The reverbera- 

 tions of the resonant wood echo about the clear- 

 ing, to the great annoyance of the sleepy folk. 

 This can hardly be a search for grubs, since 

 the splits are dry as bone and without bark. 

 He seems to greatly enjoy the joke, for between 

 the rolls he halts for a moment, chuckles to 

 himself, then repeats the tattoo. 



One day while sitting in the shade of a cabin 

 veranda he came to one of the cedar posts within 

 six feet of me and although his bill seemed stuffed 

 full of grubs and insects he carefully inspected 

 the loose bark for trace of another. The wonder 

 was how he could drill for more when already 

 his bill was so well filled; but, not finding one, 

 he fiew away and my curiosity was then unsatis- 

 fied. A few days later he lit on a dead spruce 

 just above my head, deposited his load of bugs 

 in a deep crevice of the bark, quickly drilled out 

 a borer gathered up his cached food and hur- 

 ried home with his fine load. Never have I 

 watched a busier pair of birds, and were I to 

 select a new emblem to represent industry, I 



