POPULAR WOODPECKERS 45 



were unnecessary. The whole town, or at 

 least the whole neighborhood, was aware of 

 the birds' presence. Every school-teacher 

 in the city, one man told me, had been there 

 with his or her pupils to see them. So 

 popular is ornithology in these modern days. 

 He had seen thirty or forty persons about 

 the place at once, he said, all on the same 

 errand. "Look at the bank there," he 

 added. " They have worn it smooth by sit- 

 ting on it." 



I have not been fortunate enough to as- 

 sist at any such interesting " function," but 

 I have had plenty of evidence to prove the 

 truth of what I said just now that the 

 birds and their nest have become matters 

 of common knowledge. On my third visit, 

 just as I was ready to come away, a boy 

 turned the corner on a bicycle, holding his 

 younger sister in front of him. 



" Are they here ? " he inquired as he dis- 

 mounted. 



"Who?" said I. 



" The red-headed woodpeckers," he an- 

 swered. 



He had known about the nest for some 



