BIRD ODDITIES 299 



attracting and winning the affections of a mate. 

 Being a skillful drummer, as we have already 

 learned, he attempts to drum his way to the 

 heart of the retiring female. Clinging to a dead 

 dry stub, he beats a lively tattoo, perhaps think- 

 ing by this display of skill to prove his ability 

 to bountifully supply his mate and the nestlings 

 with fat grubs. 



While fishing one spring on Kennebago Lake 

 with a party of friends, we occupied a log cabin 

 at some distance from the main camp. Close be- 

 side our cabin was a garden enclosed by a high 

 fence of woven wire to protect the growing 

 vegetables from the ravages of deer which were 

 very abundant in that region. The taut wire 

 was securely fastened to dry cedar posts set 

 firmly in the ground. Every morning about 

 daylight, a male Hairy Woodpecker came and 

 hammered away on the resonant posts, the 

 sound running around the enclosure as on a tele- 

 phone line, seeming to increase rather than di- 

 minish as it traveled. We were regularly awakened 

 by this early drummer, and for some time I was 

 unable to determine the reason for his attacking 

 the sound, dry posts which gave little prospect 

 of containing a supply of grubs, or wood borers. 

 After a time I saw a female flying shyly about in 

 the edge of the woods and then the whole affair 

 was plain to me. But alas! there came a tragedy 

 to mar the success of this sylvan wooing. One 

 morning in a frenzy of zeal he flew to the stove 

 funnel which projected from the guide's camp 

 in lieu of a chimney, and upon this he beat such 

 a roll that every sleeping inmate was instantly 



