84 THE CARPENTER OF THE WOODS. 
as the woodpecker does ; but more frequently, 
a flock of ant-catchers assemble round one of 
the great ant-hills, and take up their abode 
there. They live in perfect harmony, for there 
is abundance of food, and no need to quarrel 
about it. 
And when the ants go out foraging, the 
birds follow them, and perch upon the trees 
until the ants have finished their feast, and 
are on their way home again. Then, they fall 
upon them, and devour them by thousands. 
But to return to the woodpecker. 
The woodpecker we have in England is a 
small bird, and makes only a tapping noise. 
But in the great forests of America, the tra- 
veller is often startled by a loud ringing sound, 
as if a giant were hammering. He looks 
about him in amazement,, and sees immense 
heaps of bark lying at the roots of the trees ; 
and chips of wood, in such quantities, that the 
invisible giant might have been at work there. 
He pauses and wonders. No human being is 
in sight, and yet the hammering goes on, blow 
after blow, the forest echoes with it: who can 
it be? 
If the traveller has any knowledge, he will 
