only you build high enough, out of harm's way."

Mr. Flicker grinned at him.

"It's plain that you don't know we Flickers are sometimes called High-holes," he said, "because of the way we nest."

"Ah! So you have two names, eh?" Reddy Woodpecker exclaimed, as he speared a grub with his tongue and drew it out from under a bit of bark. "I should think you'd find that confusing. I should think you'd forget who you were, sometimes."

"Oh! It's easy when you get used to it," Mr. Flicker replied. He paused to capture another ant. And then he added, "I have more than just two names. I have one hundred and twenty-four in all."

"My goodness!" cried Reddy. He was so astonished that he missed a stab at a fine grub that was right under his nose. "My goodness! Has your wife as many names as that?"

"Yes!" said Mr. Flicker.

"And your children?"

Mr. Flicker nodded.

"Sakes alive!" Reddy exclaimed. "How do you ever feed them all?"

Mr. Flicker gave a long, rolling, curious laugh.

"We feed the children under only one name," he explained, "although I must confess it sometimes seems to me that each of them eats enough for one hundred and twenty-four youngsters."

"I know how that is," said Reddy Woodpecker. "My home is in a tree in the orchard, too. And I'm raising a family of four myself."

V

TOO MUCH COUSIN

Reddy Woodpecker wished that he hadn't been so pleasant to his cousin Mr. Flicker. It was all well enough for Mr. Flicker to drum upon Reddy's bit of tin on the roof of the barn so long as he drummed late in the morning. But when he drummed early, as he sometimes did, it usually happened that Reddy had to wait before he could begin his own morning tattoo.

And Reddy Woodpecker didn't like that at all. In fact it seemed to him that Mr. Flicker had quite forgotten his manners. For if he happened to reach the barn first he never stopped drumming until he had all but drummed his head off. At least, that was the way it seemed to Reddy Woodpecker.

At such times Reddy did everything he could think of—short of actually fighting—to make Mr. Flicker stop. He made a sound like a tree toad, ktr-rr, kttr-r-r. He tapped on the shingles with his bill. He flew right over Mr. Flicker's head. But it seemed as if Mr. Flicker simply couldn't take a hint.

"I don't like to order him to hop away," thought Reddy. "He's my cousin. Besides, he's bigger than I am; and he does look terribly fierce with that black mustache."'

Though he may have looked fierce, Mr. Flicker always acted in the most pleasant manner possible. And when he finished his drumming he never failed to ask Reddy Woodpecker how he liked it.

It was a hard question for Reddy to answer, because he didn't care in the least for Mr. Flicker's tattoos. He thought his own were far better. Sometimes Reddy pretended not to hear his cousin's question, but started drumming at once. Sometimes he said, "I believe that's an improvement over yesterday's tattoo." And at last he exclaimed one morning, "You ought to join the Woodchuck brothers!"

Mr. Flicker was a great person to ask, "Why?" He asked it now.

"Because," Reddy told him, "the Woodchuck brothers are famous whistlers. And they need somebody to drum for them while they whistle. I've often heard them chirping away by themselves over in the pasture. And as you must know, there's no music that sounds better than drumming, with a little shrill whistling to go with it—unless it's a little whistling, with a plenty of loud drumming."

Mr. Flicker's favorite word "Why" sprang to his bill again. "Why," he inquired, "do you not drum for the Woodchuck brothers yourself?"

Reddy Woodpecker shook his head.

"I want to practice more, before I join a troupe," he said.

"There!" Mr. Flicker exclaimed. "I like to hear people talk that way. That shows that you don't think you're the best drummer in Pleasant Valley."

"I don't, eh?" said Reddy.

"No, you don't!" said Mr. Flicker. And it was plain that he didn't think so, either. But before Reddy could make up his mind to quarrel with his cousin Mr. Flicker asked him another question—not "Why?" but "Where?" "Where—" said Mr. Flicker earnestly—"where can one find these Woodchuck brothers?"

"One can find them in the pasture, unless they're in the clover patch. Just now they are probably in the pasture, for it's a bit early in the season for clover."

"The pasture!" repeated Mr. Flicker. "Ah! There must be ant hills in the pasture."

"Hundreds of them!" said Reddy.

"Then I'll go to see the Woodchuck brothers at once," Mr. Flicker decided. So he flew off.

VI

MR. FLICKER'S PLANS

In a little while Mr. Flicker returned from his trip to the pasture to see the Woodchuck brothers. Hurrying into the orchard he called to Reddy Woodpecker, "They're thinking it over."

"They'll want you to drum for them," Reddy assured him. "There's no doubt that the Woodchuck brothers will accept your offer.... Why don't you move up to the pasture at once? You'd find it handy, living in the Woodchucks' door-yard."

"I can't do that," said Mr. Flicker. "You forget my family."

"Move them too!" Reddy urged him.

But Mr. Flicker shook his head. "I don't believe my wife would be willing," he replied. "Besides, there's that piece of tin on the roof of the barn. Would you advise me to move that?"

"No!" Reddy cried hastily. "Don't move the tin! In fact, Mr. Flicker, I shouldn't move at all, if I were you."

But Mr. Flicker had liked the plan of moving to the pasture to live. He had found great quantities of ants there. And to Reddy's dismay he insisted that he should move and take the strip of tin with him. That is to say, he intended to move as soon as his wife gave him permission.

It was no wonder Reddy wished he had never put such an idea into his cousin Mr. Flicker's head. He had hoped to get rid only of Mr. Flicker and his drumming. He had never dreamed that Mr. Flicker would want to take the precious bit of tin with him when he went.

Shortly afterward Mr. Flicker reported that it was just as he had thought. Mrs. Flicker wouldn't listen to moving just then. But later, after the children learned to fly, and could feed themselves, she would have no objection to the change of residence.