CARPENTERS IN FEATHERS 167 



ber large enough for a comfortable nursery. A week 

 or ten days may be spent by a couple in making it. The 

 chips by which this good workman is known are left on 

 the nursery floor, for woodpeckers do not pamper their 

 babies with fine grasses, feathers, or fixr cradle linings, as 

 the chickadee and some other birds do. A well-regulated 

 woodpecker's nest contains five glossy-white eggs. 



Sheltered from the rain, wind, and sun, hidden from al- 

 most every enemy except the red squirrel, the little wood- 

 peckers lie secure in their dark, warm nursery, with no ex- 

 citement except the visits of their parents with a fat grub. 

 Then how quickly they scramble up the walls toward the 

 light and dinner! 



