A THOUSAND-YEAR PINE 



Short sections of the dead hnibs broke 

 off, however, and were embedded in 

 the old pine. Twelve years' growth 

 covered them, and they remained 

 hidden from view until my splitting 

 revealed them. Two other wounds 

 started promptly to heal and, with one 

 exception, did so. 



A year or two later some ants and 

 borers began excavating their deadly 

 winding ways in the old pine. They 

 probably started to work in one of the 

 places injured })y the falling tree. 

 They must have had some advantage, 

 or else something must have happened 

 to the nuthatches and chickadees that 

 year, for, despite the vigilance of these 

 birds, both the borers and the ants suc- 

 ceeded in establishing colonies that 

 threatened injury and possibly death. 



19 



