THE HOUSE THAT FELL 
How does he know where to dig his hole, 
The woodpecker there, on the elm-tree pole ? 
How does he know what kind of a limb 
To use for a drum or to burrow in ? 
Long. 
T he red-headed woodpecker is one of 
those birds who prefer old home- 
steads year after year, and the bird whose 
history I am going to tell nested for five 
seasons in the same dead tree just south 
of my nursery window. During that time 
he excavated two dwellings in it, and the 
discarded one he used as a shelter for him- 
self on cold rainy days when Madam was 
on the nest. A light summer shower, how- 
ever, was his delight, and the only bath 1 
ever saw him take. Although robins and 
wood-thrushes daily bathed in a basin set 
out for them. Red-head never would go 
to the ground for it. 
170 
