I Mrs. Robin's News
II Getting Acquainted
III Morning Tattoos
IV The High-Hole
V Too Much Cousin
VI Mr. Flicker's Plans
VII The Two Neighbors
VIII An Early Call
IX Mrs. Robin Worries
X Obeying Orders
XI A Very Short Fight
XII Jolly Robin's Helper
XIII The Carpenter
XIV Mr. Crow's Questions
XV The Redcaps
XVI A Sly Trick
XVII A Hunting Party
XVIII A Big Appetite
XIX Who Was Greedy?
XX Catching Flies
XXI The Odd Mr. Frog
XXII Dodging Danger
XXIII Beechnuts
XXIV The Winter's Store
*THE TALE OF
REDDY WOODPECKER*
*I*
*MRS. ROBIN'S NEWS*
If you had been in Farmer Green's door-yard on a certain day in May you
would have heard an unusual twittering and chirping and squawking.
Now, there was a reason for all this chatter. Jolly Robin's wife had
seen a handsome stranger in the orchard. And she had hurried away to
spread the news among her friends.
"He's a dashing person, very elegantly dressed," Mrs. Robin told
everybody.
That remark did not seem to please the good lady's husband. For Jolly
Robin turned up his nose--or his bill--slightly, and he said to his
wife, "The question is: What are his manners like?"
Mrs. Robin admitted that the stranger's manners were not all that one
might wish.
"He was somewhat noisy," she explained. "And I fear he may be
quarrelsome. But his clothes certainly were beautiful."
Jasper Jay, who was something of a dandy, wanted to know exactly what
the stranger wore. He said he doubted that the newcomer was as
fashionable as Mrs. Robin supposed.
"I can't tell you much about his suit," Mrs. Robin went on, "except that
it was new and stylish. What I noticed specially was his cap. It was a
big one and it was a brilliant red."
Jasper Jay sniffed when he heard that.
"They're not wearing red caps this season," he declared. He flew off
then, to find his cousin Mr. Crow and tell him the news. For he hoped
that Mr. Crow would give the stranger a disagreeable greeting. Jasper
Jay did not like other birds to be more gayly dressed than he.
While all the feathered folk in the neighborhood were wondering who the
stranger could be old Mr. Crow came winging over from the edge of the
woods.
"Where is he?" he squalled. "Let me have one look at this new arrival!
I think I know who he is."
A little later Mr. Crow had his look, over in the orchard. Then he came
back and alighted in the tall grass behind the farmhouse.
"He's a Red-headed Woodpecker," Mr. Crow announced with a wise tilt of
his own head. "There hasn't been one of his kind in Pleasant Valley for
years and years.... It's a pity," he added, "that this one has stopped
here."
The old gentleman's words threw little Mrs. Chippy into a flutter.
"Is he a dangerous person?" she quavered.
"I believe so," said Mr. Crow darkly.
"Does he eat eggs?" Mrs. Chippy faltered. "And nestlings?"
For a moment or two old Mr. Crow couldn't make up his mind whether he
ought to get angry or not. Eating eggs and young birds was a subject he
liked to avoid. He was aware that his neighbors knew he was a rascal.
But he was a quick-witted old fellow. Suddenly he saw how the presence
of this stranger might help him.
"Yes!" he told Mrs. Chippy. "This Woodpecker family all eat eggs and
nestlings. And if you people miss any of your treasures, later, you'll
know who took them."
At that little Mr. Chippy nodded his chestnut-crowned head.
"If it isn't you," he remarked to Mr. Crow, "then it will be the
stranger."
"Not at all! Not at all!" the old gentleman squawked. "You'll be safe
in thinking the newcomer guilty." Then he turned his back on Mr.
Chippy, as if that small, shrinking chap weren't worth noticing. And
favoring Mrs. Chippy with what he thought was a pleasant smile, Mr. Crow
said to her, "You mustn't let this Red-head know where your nest is. No
doubt you have eggs in it already."
"Yes, I have!" she twittered proudly.
"I certainly hope Red-head won't steal them," said Mr. Crow. "It would
be a shame if you lost your beautiful eggs.... Where is your nest, Mrs.
Chippy?"
"Don't tell him!" peeped Mr. Chippy to his wife. "He wants to eat our
eggs himself."
As for Mr. Crow, he gave a hoarse cry of rage, before he flapped himself
away.
*II*
*GETTING ACQUAINTED*
"I don't believe--" said Mrs. Jolly Robin after old Mr. Crow had flown
off in a rage--"I don't believe this Mr. Woodpecker can be such a bad
person as Mr. Crow thinks. He certainly wears very stylish clothes and
a very handsome red cap."
"Clothes--" said little Mr. Chippy severely--"clothes don't tell whether
their wearer has a taste for eggs. Now, I wear a red cap. To be sure,
it isn't as bright, perhaps, nor as big, as Mr. Woodpecker's. But it's a
red cap, all the same. And everybody knows that _I_ don't eat eggs.
Everybody knows I'm no nest robber."
"You don't look like one!" cried a strange voice which made everybody
jump. It was the newcomer, Mr. Woodpecker, himself! Unnoticed he had
flown up. And now he perched on a limb nearby. "You don't look any more
like a nest robber than I do," he told Mr. Chippy.
The whole company stared at him; and then stared at little Mr. Chippy.
There was a vast difference between them. Mr. Chippy was a tiny, meek
person, while Mr. Woodpecker was as bold as brass. Mr. Chippy was
modestly dressed; and his cap, though it was reddish, was of a dull hue.
But the newcomer wore a flashy suit of dark steel blue and white; and
his cap was both very big and very red. Mr. Chippy was a shy body who
said little; and when he did speak it was usually only to utter a faint
_chip, chip, chip, chip_. But Mr. Woodpecker was very talkative. When he
spoke you didn't have to strain your ears to hear what he said.