AN INSECT CARPENTER 281 
whole thing by letting out a silly, nervous laugh 
that made me long to shake him. 
“ By and by, however, matters were evidently 
settled, and Mr. Flicker flew over to a big hollow 
stump near by. I hardly think he meant to in¬ 
dicate that this might do for a nesting site. 
Flickers usually go high.—High-hole, you know, 
is one of their many names.—More than likely he 
thought to find an ant or some such dainty to 
offer to his sweetheart. And I think he was just 
as astonished as I was when the biggest hornet 
that ever buzzed flew from the ruins and gave 
him most plainly to understand that trespassers 
were not desired. With a loud yarup, he turned 
tail, showing the white feather in real earnest, as 
his golden wings bore him away through the 
grove. 
“ I remained perfectly motionless, and Mrs. 
Hornet did not so much as give me a glance. 
Two carpenters would be one too many, she evi¬ 
dently thought, when she objected to the wood¬ 
pecker’s intrusion; for I soon found that she was 
herself no mean workman, and had undertaken to 
construct a home there in the stump. How sav¬ 
agely she seemed to bite and tear at the decaying 
wood! I was astonished at the size of the splin¬ 
ters she managed to break off, but I’ve been 
looking up the subject a little since I came 
home, and I find that in proportion to her size 
