SOME TENNESSEE BIBB NOTES. 191 



or three red-cockaded woodpeckers, besides 

 whicli I heard one downy and one "log- 

 cock." The last-named bird, which is big 

 enough for even the careless to notice, 

 seemed to be well known to the inhabitants 

 of Walden's Ridge, where I heard it. By 

 what they told me, it should be fairly com- 

 mon, but I saw nothing of its " peck-holes." 

 The first of my two red-headed woodpeckers 

 was near the base of Missionary Ridge, 

 wasting his time in exploring pole after pole 

 along the railway. Did he mistake them 

 for so many dead trees still standing on 

 their own roots ? Dry and seemingly unde- 

 cayed, they appeared to me to offer small 

 encouragement to a grub-seeker ; but prob- 

 ably the fellow knew his own business best. 

 On questions of economic entomology, I 

 fear I should prove but a lame adviser for 

 the most benighted woodpecker that ever 

 drummed. And yet, being a man, I could 

 not help feeling that this particular red- 

 head was behaving uncommonly like a fool. 

 Was there ever a man who did not take it 

 as a matter of course that he should be wiser 

 than the " lower animals " ? 



Humming-birds cut but a small figure in 



