SHARP EYES. 43 



ing cut away as clean as a squirrel would have done 

 it. The inside preparations I could not witness, but 

 day after day, as I passed near, I heard the bird ham- 

 mering away, evidently beating down obstructions and 

 shaping and enlarging the cavity. The chips were 

 not brought out, but were used rather to floor the 

 interior. The woodpeckers are not nest-builders, but 

 rather nest-carvers. 



The time seemed very short before the voices of 

 the young were heard in the heart of the old tree, 

 at first feebly, but waxing stronger day by day until 

 they could be heard many rods distant. When I put 

 my hand upon the trunk of the tree, they would set 

 up an eager, expectant chattering; but if I climbed 

 up it toward the opening, they soon detected the un- 

 usual sound and would hush quickly, only now and 

 then uttering a warning note. Long before they 

 were fully fledged they clambered up to the orifice 

 to receive their food. As but one could stand in the 

 opening at a time, there was a good deal of elbowing 

 and struggling for this position. It was a very desir- 

 able one aside from the advantages it had whvjn food 

 was served; it looked out upon the great, shining 

 world, into which the young birds seemed never tired 

 of gazing. The fresh air must have been a consider- 

 ation also, for the interior of a high-hole's dwelling is 

 not sweet. When the parent birds came with food, 

 the young one in the opening did not get it all, but 

 after he had received a portion, either on his own 

 motion or on a hint from the old one, he would give 



