878 UPLAND AND MEADOW. 



as thougli it were April and he were behindhand with his 

 nesting. The bird had evidently been at work for sev- 

 eral days, as a deep hole was already peeked in the limb, 

 and I suppose the bird proposes excavating a nesting- 

 place. This is a cnrions freak for the time of year, but 

 one not unknown to ornithologists, I believe. I have 

 notes of a downy woodpecker doing the same thing, but 

 never occupying the hole after it was finished. Is it a 

 weather sign ? I find none in the list at hand referring 

 to this work of the bird. Woodpecker weather-lore is 

 not very satisfactory. We are told that when these birds 

 leave {i. e.y in autumn), expect a hard winter.' Fortu- 

 nately, they never leave, but the hard winters do come 

 more frequently than I fancy. Again, the list of prov- 

 erbs has, " When the woodpeckers peck low on the trees, 

 expect warm weather." The hole being pecked out in 

 the apple-tree to-day is scarcely six feet from the ground. 

 Is this low down or high? If I remember rightly, I saw 

 several hairy woodpeckers to-day tapping vigorously at 

 the highest limbs of the three beeches in the corner 

 of the yard ; are we then to have both cold and warm 

 weather ? Probably, for there never yet was an autumn 

 or winter without both. Leaving the flickers at work, I 

 went over to Miles Overfield's cottage, for Miles is my 

 last resort when I am puzzled. Not that he always en- 

 lightens me, but he is sure to have some curious wrinkle 

 upon every subject connected with local njatters. Like 

 many men, knowing very little, he thinks himself the 

 embodiment of wisdom. 



"Have you ever seen a woodpecker make a nest this 

 time of year?" I asked, when I was fairly seated by 



