AT PEEP OF DAY 



have abandoned the earlier site, and are now de- 

 voting all their energies to the construction of this 

 newer home. The male is working at present, you 

 see, and now and then he appears at the door with 

 a chip in his beak. Sometimes he recklessly casts 

 his shavings away and gives no heed to their 

 course, but at other times he puts his head far out 

 and carefully watches the falling chips. Is this 

 idle curiosity merely, or is he anxious to note 

 whether the tell-tale bits of wood land in betray- 

 ing places or in paths suspiciously near the home 

 tree? 



It was by tokens of this kind an abundance of 

 tiny chips strewn around a maple-tree base that 

 I discovered a cleverly hidden flicker nest a few 

 days ago. The lord and master of the establish- 

 ment was evidently not a bird of honor like our 

 earlier acquaintance. I watched this newer friend 

 for fully ten minutes as he sat idly looking out his 

 front door an action not necessarily blame- 

 worthy in itself, but reprehensible in view of 

 what followed. During his wife's absence he was 

 taking a complete holiday, but when her loud 

 quick - quick - quick - quick - quick - quick - quick 

 gave warning of her approach he fell to work 

 with deceitful energy, and when she appeared on 



