12 WOODPECKERS 



tain whistle " of a small boy. In our Beaver Pond, the golden- 

 winged woodpeckers sometimes beat on the galvanized-iron 

 drums which protect the bases of the trees from the teeth of 

 the beavers. 



When a woodpecker is working hardest, you hear only a 

 faint "chuck! chuck! chuck!" as he drives his sharp, wedge- 

 like beak into the bark or soft wood. Often the falling 

 chips are your first notice that a winged forester is at work 

 aloft, digging out and devouring the larvae that, if left alone, 

 bring decay and death to trees. 



You may be sure that whenever you find one of these 

 valuable birds at work, there is need for him. To-day a 

 great many persons know their value and protect them. Oc- 

 casionally, however, men who are so thoughtless or so mean 

 as to engage in the brutal pastime known as a "side hunt," 

 do lower themselves, and injure the landowners about them, 

 by killing every woodpecker that can be found, — for "points." 

 If all farmers only knew what a loss every "side hunt" means 

 to them, such wicked pastimes would not be tolerated. 



It is also to be added, with deep regret, that many Italians 

 who come to America to make new homes for themselves bring 

 with them the idea that it is right to kill birds of every de- 

 scription for food, — song-birds, woodpeckers, swallows and 

 all others, — and to their murderous guns our most valuable 

 woodpeckers are the easiest prey in the world. A woodpecker 

 hard at work trying to save a giant oak from insect destruc- 

 tion never dreams of being treacherously shot in the back. 

 For all such bird-murderers the remedies are: first, education; 

 then, punishment to the limit of the law. 



