"Huh!" Reddy Woodpecker grunted. "I don't think much of his drumming."
"You ought to," remarked Mr. Barn Swallow.
"Why?" Reddy inquired.
"Because he's a distant cousin of yours," Mr. Barn Swallow explained. "He belongs to the Woodpecker family."
IV
THE HIGH-HOLE
Reddy Woodpecker lost no time in making friends with his cousin Mr. Flicker. Reddy knew well enough that most of the birds in the neighborhood wished he hadn't come there to live. So he thought it wise to be pleasant and polite to Mr. Flicker. There was no knowing when he might need one friend among so many enemies. He even let Mr. Flicker drum upon the strip of tin upon the roof of the barn. But secretly Reddy thought him a queer chap.
"There's one thing that's very odd about you," Reddy said to Mr. Flicker one day. "If you're a Woodpecker, why don't you peck wood? I've noticed that you spend most of your time on the ground—when you're not drumming upon my tin."
Mr. Flicker laughed.
"Oh!" he said lightly, "we Flickers have found an easier way to get a living than by drilling wood with our bills to find grubs. We eat ants," he explained. "And that's why you see me on the ground so much, because that's where the ants live." At the moment Mr. Flicker was on the ground, while Reddy clung to the trunk of a tree near him. And just to prove the truth of his statement Mr. Flicker made a quick jab into the turf with his bill. He pulled his bill out at once, giving Reddy Woodpecker a glimpse of an ant before he swallowed it.