128 BIRDS'-NESTS. 



by a dull hammering, evidently but a few 

 rods off. I said to myself, " Some one is 

 building a house." From what I had pre- 

 viously seen, I suspected the builder to be a 

 red-headed woodpecker, in the top of a dead 

 oak stub near by. Moving cautiously in 

 that direction, I perceived a round hole, 

 about the size of that made by an inch-and- 

 a-half auger, near the top of the decayed 

 trunk, and the white chips of the workman 

 strewing the ground beneath. When but a 

 few paces from the tree, my foot pressed 

 upon a dry twig, which gave forth a very 

 slight snap. Instantly the hammering ceased, 

 and a scarlet head appeared at the door. 

 Though I remained perfectly motionless, for- 

 bearing even to wink till my eyes smarted, 

 the bird refused to go on with his work, but 

 flew quietly off to a neighboring tree. What 

 surprised me was, that amid his busy oc- 

 cupation down in the heart of the old tree, 

 he should have been so alert and watchful 

 as to catch the slightest sound from without. 

 The woodpeckers all build in about the 

 same manner, excavating the trunk or branch 

 of a decayed tree, and depositing the eggs 

 on the fine fragments of wood at the bottom 

 of the cavity. Though the nest is not espe- 



