WOODPECKERS AND THEIR ALLIES 63 



places at once. There may be cracks and small 

 holes, superficial ones, in the wood of those 

 branch pikes ; but they are not rotten just yet, 

 they are as solid as cord wood. I have done 

 the same thing as one of my woodland friends, 

 when he was in doubt concerning any natural 

 matter, used to do for a proof. He was a field 

 naturalist, of a very practical nature, knowing all 

 the creatures that were good to eat, where they 

 lived, when they were out, and when they were 

 at home. Not only that, he knew how to get 

 them, if he thought fit. 



"You know, dear boy," he would say, "it 

 ain't the least use fancyiri as things is so, you 

 must prove 'em. What's larnt fur nothin' is 

 cheap, an' good for nothin' ; but what you 

 larns yerself, an' pays fur, is all right ; you've 

 paid fur it, dear boy, paid fur it, an' you knows 

 the worth on it." 



Our old acquaintance used to pay in coin 

 of the realm when certain "powers that be" 

 objected to some of his practical studies. "It 

 was werry unkind of 'em, but he'd look over 

 it," was his usual comment. To return to our 

 feathered drummer ; all insects that live in de- 

 cayed wood, either in grub form or in their 

 perfect state, advance or recede, according to 



