ions I could not
witness, but day after day, as I passed near, I heard the bird
hammering away, evidently beating down obstructions and shaping and
enlarging the cavity. The chips were not brought out, but were used
rather to floor the interior. The woodpeckers are not nest-builders,
but rather nest-carvers.

The time seemed very short before the voices of the young were heard in
the heart of the old tree,--at first feebly, but waxing stronger day by
day until they could be heard many rods distant. When I put my hand
upon the trunk of the tree, they would set up an eager, expectant
chattering; but if I climbed up it toward the opening, they soon
detected the unusual sound and would hush quickly, only now and then
uttering a warning note. Long before they were fully fledged they
clambered up to the orifice to receive their food. As but one could
stand in the opening at a time, there was a good deal of elbowing and
struggling for this position. It was a very desirable one aside from
the advantages it had when food was served; it looked out upon the
great, shining world, into which the young birds seemed never tired of
gazing. The fresh air must have been a consideration also, for the
interior of a high-hole's dwelling is not sweet. When the parent birds
came with food, the young one in the opening did not get it all, but
after he had received a portion, either on his own motion or on a hint
from the old one, he would give place to the one behind him. Still, one
bird evidently outstripped his fellows, and in the race of life was two
or three days in advance of them. His voice was loudest and his head
oftenest at the window. But I noticed that, when he had kept the
position too long, the others evidently made it uncomfortable in his
rear, and, after "fidgeting" about awhile, he would be compelled to
"back down." But retaliation was then easy, and I fear his mates spent
few easy moments at that lookout. They would close their eyes and slide
back into the cavity as if the world had suddenly lost all its charms
for them.

This bird was, of course, the first to leave the nest. For two days
before that event he kept his position in the opening most of the time
and sent forth his strong voice incessantly. The old ones abstained
from feeding him almost entirely, no doubt to encourage his exit. As I
stood looking at him one afternoon and noting his progress, he suddenly
reached a resolution,--seconded, I have no doubt, from the r