of a ^ousanb^ear (pine 



ever, and were embedded in the old pine. Twelve 

 years' growth covered them, and they remained 

 hidden from view until my splitting revealed 

 them. The other wounds started promptly to 

 heal and, with one exception, did so. 



A year or two later some ants and borers be- 

 gan excavating their deadly winding ways in the 

 old pine. They probably started to work in one of 

 the places injured by the falling tree. They must 

 have had some advantage, or else something must 

 have happened to the nuthatches and chicka- 

 dees that year, for, despite the vigilance of these 

 birds, both the borers and the ants succeeded in 

 establishing colonies that threatened injury and 

 possibly death. 



Fortunately relief came. One day the chief 

 surgeon of all the Southwestern pineries came 

 along. This surgeon was the Texas woodpecker. 

 He probably did not long explore the ridges and 

 little furrows of the bark before he discovered 

 the wound or heard these hidden insects work- 

 ing. After a brief examination, holding his ear 

 to the bark for a moment to get the location of 

 the tree's deadly foe beneath, he was ready to act. 



39 



