e you back. The Old Orchard
wouldn't be quite the same without you. Did you have a pleasant summer?
And if you please, Yank-Yank, tell me where you built your home and what
it was like."

"Yes, Mr. Curiosity, I had a very pleasant summer," replied Yank-Yank.
"Mrs. Yank-Yank and I raised a family of six and that is doing a lot
better than some folks I know, if I do say it. As to our nest, it was
made of leaves and feathers and it was in a hole in a certain old stump
that not a soul knows of but Mrs. Yank-Yank and myself. Now is there
anything else you want to know?"

"Yes," retorted Peter promptly. "I want to know how it is that you can
walk head first down the trunk of a tree without losing your balance and
tumbling off."

Yank-Yank chuckled happily. "I discovered a long time ago, Peter," said
he, "that the people who get on best in this world are those who make
the most of what they have and waste no time wishing they could
have what other people have. I suppose you have noticed that all
the Woodpecker family have stiff tail feathers and use them to brace
themselves when they are climbing a tree. They have become so dependent
on them that they don't dare move about on the trunk of a tree without
using them. If they want to come down a tree they have to back down.

"Now Old Mother Nature didn't give me stiff tail feathers, but she gave
me a very good pair of feet with three toes in front and one behind
and when I was a very little fellow I learned to make the most of those
feet. Each toe has a sharp claw. When I go up a tree the three front
claws on each foot hook into the bark. When I come down a tree I simply
twist one foot around so that I can use the claws of this foot to keep
me from falling. It is just as easy for me to go down a tree as it is
to go up, and I can go right around the trunk just as easily and
comfortably." Suiting action to the word, Yank-Yank ran around the trunk
of the apple-tree just above Peter's head. When he reappeared Peter had
another question ready.

"Do you live altogether on grubs and worms and insects and their eggs?"
he asked.

"I should say not!" exclaimed Yank-Yank. "I like acorns and beechnuts
and certain kinds of seeds."

"I don't see how such a little fellow as you can eat such hard things as
acorns and beechnuts," protested Peter a little doubtfully.

Yank-Yank laughed right out. "Sometime when I see you over in the Green
Forest I'll show you," said he. "When I find a fa