46 THE CLERK OF THE WOODS 



weeks. Oh, yes, everybody knew it. So- 

 and-so found it (I forget the name), and 

 pretty soon it was all over Newtonville. A 

 certain boy, whose wretched name also I 

 have forgotten, had talked about shooting 

 one of the birds ; he could get a dollar and 

 a half for it, he professed; but policeman 

 Blank had said that a dollar and a half 

 would n't do a boy much good if he got hold 

 of him. He my informant, a bright-faced, 

 manly fellow of eleven or twelve had 

 brought his younger sister down to see the 

 birds. He thought they were very hand- 

 some. " There ! " said he, as one of them 

 perched on a dead tree near by, " look ! " and 

 he knelt behind the little girl and pointed 

 over her shoulder till she got the direction. 

 After all, I thought, a boy is almost as pretty 

 as a woodpecker. His father and mother 

 were Canadians, and had told him that birds 

 of this kind were common where they used 

 to live. Then he lifted his sister upon the 

 wheel, jumped up behind her, and away they 

 trundled. 



At another time an older boy came along, 

 also on a bicycle, and stopped for a minute's 



