WOODPECKERS. 39 



long, deep holes in tree trunks. A boy sees a 

 hole far up the side of an old tree, and he thinks 

 "now is his 1 chance." Hasn't he "wished he 

 could find a woodpecker's nest" for many a day? 

 After a while, after breaking his suspenders, and 

 tearing his clothes, and getting smut from last 

 year's forest fires all over himself, he reaches the 

 hole. It is much deeper than he supposed. His 

 arm seems shorter than it ought to be, and he 

 tries the other arm. Should he reach the bottom 

 of one nest out of half a dozen that he is lucky 

 enough to find, he may wish he had n't ; for 

 snakes very often make their homes in such places 

 after they have been deserted by their original 

 owners. Possibly the bird has told the boy ex- 

 actly where to find the nest, by dropping a pile of 

 chips at the foot. "Woodpeckers and carpenter- 

 bees have a way of scattering their chips about at 

 the base of the tree they are working in. Thus 

 are these "workmen known by their chips," as 

 says the old adage. 



The eggs of the woodpecker are from four to 

 six. They are white and glossy, like the china 

 eggs used for nest-eggs in a poultry -yard. 



Besides insects under leaves, under bark, and 

 in decayed wood, some woodpeckers catch moths 

 arid flies on the wing almost as well as the true 

 fly-catchers. 



