214 TWO LITTLE DEUMMERS. 



trader retired before the attack, though he pro- 

 tested vigorously; and so great was the fascina- 

 tion of the spot, that he returned again and 

 again, every time to go through the same pro- 

 cess of being driven away. 



The raspberry hedge before my windows was 

 the decoy that gave me my best chance to study 

 the red-headed woodpecker. Day after day, as 

 the berries ripened, I watched the dwellers of 

 wood and meadow drawn to the rich feast, and 

 at last, one morning, to my great joy, I saw the 

 interesting drummer alight on a post overlooking 

 the loaded vines. He plainly felt himself a 

 stranger, and not certain of his reception by the 

 residents of the neighborhood, for he crouched 

 close to the fence, and looked warily about on 

 every side. He had been there but a few mo- 

 ments when a robin, self -constituted dictator 

 of that particular corner of the premises, came 

 down a few feet from him, as if to inquire his 

 business. The woodpecker acknowledged the 

 courtesy by drawing himself up very straight 

 and bowing. The bow impressed, not to say 

 awed, the native bird. He stood staring 

 blankly, till the new-comer proclaimed his er- 

 rand by dropping into the bushes, helping him- 

 self to a berry, and returning to the fence to dis- 

 pose of his plunder. This was too much; the 

 outraged redbreast dashed suddenly over th? head 



