All of this was sane enougli from the flicker 

 point of view. She was not a very experienced 

 bird certainly, or she would have known the 

 size of the rumbling cavern beneath ; yet many 

 another flicker has had to dig through in order 

 to learn. 



JiText to the thud of soft punky wood— which 

 means fat grubs— the ring of hollow wood with 

 a thin hard shell is most musical to a flicker's 

 ears, for this is the sound of a good nesting-place. 

 The flicker is very much of a family bird. 



The roof of the barn did not suit. It is not 

 natural for a flicker to stand like ordinary 

 beings and work ; so she flew round to an end of 

 the barn where she could hang on to the per- 

 pendicular siding, bracing herself by her spine- 

 pointed tail. Choosing a spot here at the lapping 

 of two boards, she diligently began. 



I wish I could have seen the expression on 

 her face and read her thoughts when she got 

 through and found herself inside an empty barn. 

 She must have been the most amazed and mysti- 

 fied bird in the region, if she was sane enough 

 to think at all. Instead of a neat, snug cavity 

 sufficient to turn round in, she had bored into 

 [181J 



