AN INSECT CARPENTER 
“ I have had my eyes open for wasps and hor¬ 
nets ever since we talked about them the other 
day/’ announced Tommy, one evening. “ But I 
haven’t had any luck until this afternoon when 
I was crossing the big woods. I had been loiter¬ 
ing along watching a flicker courtship, and say! 
that’s another story, but I’ll tell it first. The 
flicker has been called the polite bird, you know, 
and this love-struck specimen was certainly a 
prince. How he did bow and scrape, almost 
twisting his neck out of the socket in his efforts 
to show what a beautiful red crescent he had on 
the nape of it! Then he spread his wings and his 
tail and flirted about to show their lovely sheen 
and extreme length. ‘ Just see what a large 
handsome fellow I am! ’ he seemed to say. And 
he pranced about, bridling and stepping forward, 
backward and sidewise, and swelled out his 
pretty, black, crescent-marked breast. All this 
time, too, he kept up a dreamy coaxing note, 
which sounded like the soft swishing of a willow 
wand. He certainly did produce a fine effect; 
but every once in a while the ninny spoiled the 
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