THE CARPENTER OF THE WOODS. 85 
find out, very soon, that it is the great wood- 
pecker, who is called the carpenter of the woods, 
and the king of his tribe. He is also named 
the ivory-billed woodpecker, because his bill 
is as white and shining as ivory ; and he wears 
a scarlet crest, that gives him a very imposing 
appearance. 
You must not condemn him for the havoc 
he seems to have made. The little grub he 
is hunting for does more mischief than he 
does.^ Millions of these minute creatures live 
between the bark and the wood, and feed 
upon the very vitals of the tree. Thousands 
of noble trees are silently destroyed by them ; 
and the woodpecker, with his great hammer- 
ing blows, is doing his best to rid the forest 
of its enemy. The woodpecker is very fond of 
the pine forests; and he splits open the fir cones 
to get at their seeds. So that besides the 
chips of bark and wood, piles of fir cones, 
picked of their seeds, may be seen lying at 
the roots of the trees. 
His dwelling is scooped out of the trunk of 
a tree. He and his mate take it by turns to 
hammer and bore, until they have made the 
hole large enough. But they are very fasti- 
