WOODLAND PATHS 



der sometimes if there is not another 

 reason. 



Just as beavers and squirrels must 

 gnaw to keep their teeth from growing 

 too long, so I sometimes think that wood- 

 peckers need to hammer about so much, 

 whether for food or not, to keep their 

 bills in good condition. It is difficult to 

 otherwise account for their continual 

 practice. I knew a flicker once who used 

 to drum a half-hour at a time on a sheet- 

 iron ventilator on the roof of a building. 

 I think he did it to keep his bill properly 

 calloused and his muscle up, so that when 

 he did tackle a shagbark tree with a fat, 

 inch-long borer waiting in its heart-wood 

 the chips would fly. 



This low pond-bank moraine with its 

 immemorial trail leads all along the north 

 side of the pond, skirting the shoreward 

 edge of the great bog nicely. It takes 



