TREES, THE TITMOUSE AND THE WOODPECKER. 509 



tree shows no sign of sickness ; and its annual increase goes on as 

 usual, till, at last, the new swelling wood closes over the part from 

 which the fungus had grown, and all appears to go on right again. 

 But ere the slow process arrives at this state the titmouse or the 

 woodpecker will have found an entrance, and a place of safety for 

 their incubation. They quickly perforate the distempered bark ; 

 and then, the tainted wood beneath it yields to their pointed bills, 

 with which they soon effect a spacious cavity. 



Here then we have the whole mystery unfolded. These birds, 

 which never perforate the live wood, find in this diseased part of 

 the tree, or of the branch, a place suitable to their wants. They 

 make a circular hole large enough to admit their bodies, and then 

 they form a cavity within sufficiently spacious to contain their young. 

 Thus does nature kindly smooth the way, in order that all her 

 creatures may prosper and be happy. Whenever I see these sylvan 

 carpenters thus employed, I say to them, Work on, ye pretty birds ; 

 you do no harm in excavating there : I am your friend, and I will 

 tell the owner of the tree that you are not to blame. But his wood- 

 man deserves a severe reprimand. He ought to have cut down the 

 tree, in the autumn, after the appearance of the fungus. 



On the island where this house stands, two stately sycamores have 

 afforded ample proof of what I have advanced. One of these, some 

 forty years ago, began to put on a sickly appearance, and I heard my 

 father say that he expected to see it blown down in a heavy gale ot 

 wind. In the summer of 1800, 1 climbed up to the place where the 

 brown owl formerly used to breed. The hole was full of water, in a 

 branch leading from the bole, at about 20 feet from the ground. 

 Presuming from appearances that the damage was extensive, I took 

 a wimble and bored into the tree, at the height of 5 feet ; then at 3 

 feet ; and, lastly, I got a chisel, and cut into it at 3 inches from the 

 walk. Twenty-four gallons of water, having the appearance of strong 

 coffee, were procured from these apertures in the course of the day. 

 After this, I put a cap of lead over the hole on the high branch above, 

 leaving an entrance for the owl, should she ever come again ; and I 

 drove two long pieces of iron into the bole below the aperture, suf- 

 ficiently low to form a floor for the owl's apartment, which I made 

 with scraps of stone covered with sawdust. In the summer of the 



