292 THE LOG OF THE SUN 



cavity beneath a rotten knothole? Here, perhaps, 

 the soft-shelled, lizard-like eggs were laid, and 

 when they gave forth the ugly creaturelings did 

 not Father Creature flop to the topmost branch 

 and utter a gurgling cough, a most unpleasant 

 grating sound, but grand in its significance, as 

 the opening chord in the symphony of the ages to 

 follow f — until now the mockingbird and the night- 

 ingale hold us spellbound by the wonder of their 

 minstrelsy. 



Turning from our imaginary picture of the an- 

 cient days, we find that some of the birds of the 

 present time have found a primitive way of nest- 

 ing still the best. If we push over this rotten 

 stump we shall find that the cavity near the top, 

 where the wood is still sound, has been used the 

 past summer by the downy woodpecker — a front 

 door like an auger hole, ceiling of rough-hewn 

 wood, a bed of chips ! 



The chickadee goes a step further, and shows 

 his cleverness in sometimes choosing a cavity 

 already made, and instead of rough, bare chips, 

 the six or eight chickadee youngsters are happy 

 on a hair mattress of a closely woven felt-like 

 substance. 



Perhaps we should consider the kingfisher the 

 most barbarous of all the birds which form a shel- 

 ter for their home. With bill for pick and shovel, 

 she bores straight into a sheer clay bank, and at 

 the end of a six-foot tunnel her young are reared, 



