46 



THE OOLOGIST 



lar tree and catch him in the act. An 

 interesting fact or two awaited me as 

 is generally the case if we investigate 

 things for our selves. In the first 

 place, as developed and it seemed in- 

 credible, I had often heard this roll a 

 full mile and a half away; once or 

 twice I had even heard it in the house 

 with doors and windows closed! One 

 who has never heard this remarkable 

 living mallet will suppose I am yarn- 

 ing, such however, is absolute truth. 

 From this time I heard him for sev- 

 eral years or until a heavy storm up- 

 rooted the great tree where his chosen 

 sounding board w^as located, when he 

 found another which was more punk 

 by contrast with his former one. To 

 be explicit this old sounding-board was 

 the hollow limb or arm of a big tulip 

 tree or "white wood" flung out at right 

 angle from the trunk 60 or 70 feet from 

 the ground, a mere shell as appeared, 

 with a good big hole — thoroughly sea= 

 soned, accordingly sound and hard anVl 

 barkless. The spot where he hammer- 

 ed was white where the weathered 

 gray fibers had been beaten off by con- 

 stant use. When the old tree fell I 

 tried to secure the portion of the limb 

 or more through, which the bird had 

 used, to keep as a souvenir, but by 

 some twist of fate I could not extract 

 it from the debris and finally conclud- 

 ed that it must have been driven deep 

 in the earth when the tree came down. 

 But that April day I stole cautious- 

 ly through the woods and drew very 

 near so that I could watch the great 

 woodpecker beat his sounding board, 

 through a spyglass. This is how he 

 went about it and I saw him again and 

 again. He sat upright upon the limb 

 grasping it firmly (much as he is fig- 

 ured in Nuttall's Ornithology page 444) 

 poising himself, making a motion or 

 two as a neat penman about to begin 

 writing, starts with a preliminary 

 flourish, struck the limb somewhat 



lightly at first and deliberately, accel- 

 erating both speed and power, dimin- 

 ishing to stop as he had started. He 

 then paused to listen to the effect at- 

 tend to the echoes, or wait for the re- 

 sponse of his mate perhaps, which oc- 

 casionally rolled back from somewhere 

 away east in the woods. He would 

 hop about a trifle, cock his head ex- 

 amining his neighborhood a little, 

 dress his feathers or search for para- 

 sites; — but not for long did he forget 

 what he was there for; then gather 

 himself up for another reverberation. 

 With such energy did he hammer that 

 his whole body shook and his wings 

 quivered. He fairly hurled himself 

 wildly at it The great loose hair-lik.e 

 scarlet crest flowed in the sun and his 

 scarlet mustache added to his noble 

 and savage appearance. 



When at last he flew his flight was 

 powerful and straightforward, his 

 head and neck carrying his powerful 

 beak like a spear, were held out to 

 their uttermost. As large as a crow 

 and with a certain short, sturdy, king- 

 fisher-like aspect, — will convey some 

 idea of this superb wild creature — a 

 savage left over from a violent wild- 

 erness lingering in the haunts of his 

 ancestors. I was possessed with the 

 longing to take a photograph of the 

 "king of the woodpeckers," so just one 

 week later I appeared early on tV»«» 

 scene, climbed to the top of a sturdy 

 young beech where I fixed my camera, 

 dropped a coil of rubber tubing to the 

 ground where I lay in vain, bulb in 

 hand, all morning. It was the "King's" 

 day off evidently, he never came near 

 and for me, the chance for another 

 trial never came again. I have follow- 

 ed the Logcock often and have long- 

 ed for his skin for my cabinet; but 

 my reverence or worship of him has 

 been too great to allow me to raise 

 my gun. I am not ashamed to own it, 

 and I have been a collector many 

 years. 



