Dec. 1887.] 
AND OOLOGrlST. 
195 
4 
Up a Stump. 
BY WALTER HOXIE. 
My woodpeckers have gone; I don’t know 
when they went, but I missed them to-day. I 
ting around that way to see how they were get- 
went along but the old stump was silent and de- 
serted. They have been great company for me 
ever since 1 found them carpentering away so 
busily one breezy day last spring. (What I 
really wanted was to get their eggs, for nat- 
uralists are all thieves by instinct, although on 
rare occasions they submit to really moral 
instincts). In this case the nest was too high 
to reach easily, and the old pine stump was so 
decayed at the foot as to rock and feel 
very insecure when I essayed to climb. I was 
very glad on the whole to be alone, for if any 
one had been along to hint that I was afraid of 
a tumble, 1 should have undoubtedly gone to the 
top and had some eggs of the I ’ilea ted Wood- 
pecker. As it was I had watched them too long, 
and as usual in such cases, I hadn’t the heart to 
play a mean trick on this couple of new ac- 
quaintances -that were just setting up house- 
keeping, so I sat myself down behind a long 
screen of moss that depended from a cedar 
bough, and while I lunched and smoked, con- 
tinued to watch the movements of the pair. At 
first, they were quite anxious. Their black and 
white plumage and gaudy scarlet crests glanced 
fitfully about from time to time. They were 
silent too for some time. At last, the male came 
and stood on the top of the stump for some 
time and took a careful survey of the surround- 
ings. He seemed on the whole satisfied, but to 
make assurance doubly sure, he had recourse 
to a clever ruse. He flew screeching through 
the woods two or three times, seemingly with 
an effort to be as conspicuous as possible, and 
then settled on the side of another stump some 
ways off and fell to digging away with might 
and main, pausing every now and then as if to 
see if his actions would not decoy the suspi- 
cious looking intruder away. His mate was 
the first to conclude that their visitor was 
harmless however, and when she had once set- 
tled to her task in earnest, her mate was pro- 
fuse in his offer of aid. Every time she left the 
hole with a mouthful of chips, he would slip in 
and pound and scoop away till she came back, 
when he in turn would gather up his bundle 
and make off. I noticed that they had this habit 
in common with the Ivory-bills that used to be 
about here. No chips or litter were left about 
their dwelling. All the debris was carried away 
and deposited, and not often in the same place. 
When my pipe was out, I watched my oppor- 
tunity and stole quietly off while madam was 
away and her spouse inside. Over a week 
elapsed before my next visit. Madam was at 
home and evidently brooding. Her sharp bill and 
white chin showed for an instant in response to 
my knock below. I heard her mate belaboring 
some dead trees at no great distance, and it was 
not many minutes after I had sought my place 
of concealment before I caught sight of gay 
dress coming in very scalloping flights through 
the lights and shadows of the pines. He 
brought some dainty tid-bit to his patient bet- 
ter half, and was away again without a pause. 
In fact, he did not really close his wings while 
supplying Madam with her needed sustenance, 
but clung fluttering for a few brief seconds 
while she received her grub — slang, perhaps, 
but yet a literal fact— and then swung oft in 
quest of more. He was seldom away over ten 
minutes at a time except on one occasion, when 
I purposely frightened him in order to secure 
his prize. It took very little arithmetic to de- 
termine that his day’s labor must result in the 
destruction of about sixty-five of those in- 
sects, and during the next two weeks, I count- 
ed no less than eight old decayed stumps and 
logs that he had completely pulverized. I now 
caught him at work upon a living tree, and this 
caused me some speculation. I question whether 
my friends saved any valuaule timber in their 
struggle for existence. Their prey consisted of 
insects that attack trees already dead. The 
heart wood borers that sap the life of a tree, 
and the swarming caterpillars that devastated 
the foliage, seemed both to be exempt from 
his attacks. But each of these had its appro- 
priate feathered enemy, as 1 very well know. 
It was eighteen days later when I became 
convinced that there were babies in the home. 
The response to my usual summons was a re- 
port like hissing. Both parents likewise man- 
i tested the greatest anxiety at my presence, 
which had during my frequent visits got 
to be looked upon as quite a polite attention I 
thought. The head of the family seemed to 
work himself up into quite a rage, and, in fact, 
I began to fear he would resort to personal vio- 
lence. So I didn’t stay long; I reflected that 
this was a new thing, no doubt, and my friends 
were excited and agitated, and I promised my- 
self to return soon when every thing was set- 
tled and running smoothly. 
The next night I shall long remember. I had 
been at the beach, and the weather worked bad, 
very bad indeed. I would have started for home 
in the middle of the afternoon, but there was no 
wind and the tide very strong and against me. 
All the sky was covered with “ mares’ tails,” 
and up in the northeast lumps and masses of 
clouds began to form. Just at night-fall, the 
voice of the sea sounded from that way too, and 
little ragged racing clouds came along looking 
rosy in the twilight, when a little puff of wind 
came and I was off. In less than ten minutes 
it was blowing a gale, gusty and squally, and I 
was close hauled, pitching into the short waves 
of the sound and holding to the steering oar 
for dear life. It grew darker and rougher every 
