A SUMMER AT HOME. 245 



a dozen or more (Phoebus! what digestion !) off he flew 

 to a tall hickory, and forthwith flicker was a true wood- 

 pecker again. 



From this time until frosts have driven the crickets 

 into winter-quarters, the flickers will depend upon these 

 insects for food. I believe I have never seen any other 

 of our woodpeckers run about on the ground. If the 

 country should become treeless, this bird might remain, 

 and would only be required to build its nest, like a sand 

 martin, in a cliff, to be perfectly at home. 



Where the bank of Poaetquissings Creek suddenly 

 rises to form a pretty knoll, that adds mflch beauty to 

 the intervale, there have been muskrats or raccoons dig- 

 ging with vigor, and there is now loose earth from the 

 summit to the base. Poking into it, I brought a beauti- 

 ful stone gorget to view; then an arrowhead, and an- 

 other, and anotlier, until, thanks to the burrowing 

 mammal, I had a series of weapons, ornaments, and 

 implements that sufficed to recall the life-history of the 

 unfortunate Indians that once possessed the land, gave 

 to Poaetquissings its name, and lived happy lives, if our 

 old historian was not mistaken when he said this creek 

 is by nature supplied with everything man can de- 

 sire. 



August 31 was beautifully bright and clear, and so it 

 should be. All through the night it rained with suf- 

 ficient violence, I thought, to wash all nature away ; but 

 when I awoke, at sunrise, I found everything as I had 

 left it, but cleaner. Every pebble in the path was free 



