BIRCH BROWSINGS 



through the silent woods, was a very marked 

 and characteristic feature. Its peculiarity 

 was the ordered succession of the raps, 

 which gave it the character of a premedi- 

 tated performance. There were first three 

 strokes following each other rapidly, then 

 two much louder ones with longer intervals 

 between them. I heard the drumming here, 

 and the next day at sunset at Furlow Lake, 

 the source of Dry Brook, and in no instance 

 was the order varied. There was melody 

 in it, such as a woodpecker knows how to 

 evoke from a smooth, dry branch. It sug- 

 gested something quite as pleasing as the 

 liveliest bird-song, and was if anything more 

 woodsy and wild. As the yellow-bellied 

 woodpecker was the most abundant species 

 in these woods, I attributed it to him. It 

 is the one sound that still links itself with 

 those scenes in my mind. 



At sunset the grouse began to drum in 

 all parts of the woods about the lake. I 

 could hear five at one time, thump, thump, 

 thump, thump, thr-r-r-r-r-r-rr. It was a 

 homely, welcome sound. As I returned to 

 camp at twilight, along the shore of the 

 lake, the frogs also were in full chorus. 

 The older ones ripped out their responses 

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