THE CARPENTERS 233 



jaws, as is necessary to carpenters that 

 work with their heads instead of their 

 hands. 



One spring a number of them took a 

 fancy to drill into the logs of a cabin on 

 a mountain top in the western part of 

 Virginia. 



The first one that appeared upon the 

 scene was a slender little creature, about 

 half the length of a mud-dauber. 



She went about examining the log, evi- 

 dently with a view to settlement. 



She poked into every little worm-hole 

 and cranny in the bark, and was a long 

 time in finding a place to her liking. 



At last she succeeded, and then the 

 chips began to fly. 



She found a little hole not large enough 

 and not deep enough, and this she pro- 

 ceeded to develop into a nest. 



She bit out particles of wood with her 

 strong jaws. When she had loosened a 

 chip or a fibre, she backed out of her hole, 



