OUR HOME BIRDS. 
273 
woodpecker’s hole, at the triumphant moment when 
he thinks the nestlings his own, and strips his arm, 
launching it down into the cavity and grasping what 
he conceives to be the callow young, starts with horror 
at the sight of a hideous snake, and almost drops 
from his giddy pinnacle, retreating down the tree 
with terror and precipitation. Several adventures 
of this kind have come to my knowledge ; and one 
of them was attended with serious consequences, 
where both snake and boy fell to the ground, and 
a broken thigh and long confinement cured the ad- 
venturer completely of his ambition for robbing 
woodpeckers’ nests.’ ” 
“ Don’t you think that boy deserved his fall, Miss 
Harson ? ” asked Malcolm. 
“ I think he did,” replied his governess, “ although 
a broken thigh is a very severe punishment. But 
the cruelty and meanness of robbing poor helpless 
birds of their young can scarcely be too strongly 
punished. 
“ Toward autumn, we are told, this bird often ap- 
proaches the barn or farmhouse, and raps on the 
shingles and weather-boards ; he is of a gay and 
frolicsome disposition, and half a dozen of the fra- 
ternity are frequently seen diving and vociferating 
around the high, dead limbs of some large tree, 
pursuing and playing with each other, and amus- 
