218 LAND OF THE LINGERING SNOW. 



feet in height which stood near it. To my aston- 

 ishment I discovered the head of the male sap- 

 sucker protruding from a hole in its side. He 

 saw me and saw that I saw him. The hole was 

 fifteen feet from the ground, on the southeast 

 side of the stump. The male flew away. See- 

 ing neither bird near the hole which I had 

 planned to attack, I decided to cut down the 

 stump. It toppled against some low evergreens, 

 which broke the force of its fall. The hole 

 was less than a foot in depth, and contained two 

 chubby little white eggs, through whose shell 

 the color of the yolk was plainly visible. The 

 bottom of the hole was cushioned with fine chips. 

 Concealing myself, I waited to see what the 

 woodpeckers would do. They had watched my 

 work, and had not gone out of my sight at all. 

 Flying to the tree nearest the poplar, they aimed 

 for the spot where it had been, and flew to it, 

 hovered a second and returned. This was done 

 over and over again, but much oftener by the 

 female than by the male. Failing to find the 

 stump by flying from the nearest tree, they tried 

 to strike it by approaching it from other trees 

 standing respectively to the south, southwest, 

 west, and northeast of its former position. The 

 stump itself, prostrate among the ferns, was 

 wholly ignored. The birds showed no grief, 

 indignation, or fear, nothing but astonishment 



