The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1904-07-09
A CRAZY FLICKER.
This One Took to Drilling into Iron
Pipes and Similar Strange Things.

fiS OIlC OOf 10 1TIiilI!H sIitO I'o'
Pipes and Similar Strange Things.
Mr.. Burroughs somewhere has said
that If the flicker ever goes crazy he
will 80 crazy boring holes. Now |
never doubt anything Mr.. Burroughs
says about birds and beasts. and 50
for good many years | have conf-
dently expected that if ever found a
crazy flicker. should find him. as
MIR Burroughs predicted. boring holes.
OF course | never expected 10 find
real crazy flicker, though | have long
been convinced that the whole flicker
family is queer. and. indeed, somewhat
crack-brained.
But | have found one-a real crazy.
insane flicker: and he was boring
holes-bOring holes in tin rain pipes,
for he seemed to have been possessed
He appeared last spring in Newton,
a beautiful suburb Of Boston. 1t was
in the spring time. and HiShhole
fIighhole is one of his six common
New England ramesl iEheritinS a
delicately balanced mind. was drilling
into the rain pipe. Doubtless he
thought he was preparing a place for
a bride. Now the average young
flicker bride is about as spoon and
as ready for love in q cottage as any
bride: but | have yet to see one who
would 30 to the length of a rain pipe.
No; the young flicker was mad. in
sane. He arrived in April. and an
nouncc1 himself by beating thunder
Gus tattoo on q CalvaniZed-iron chin
ney. The persons in the rooms below
jumped as if the roof Were falling.
The rasscrs-by on the street stopped
and eazed around in wonder. There
was nothn" to be seen. Again the
rafting, ringing roll and up out OF the
chimney popped Highhole, in an &C
Stesy over his new drum.
Then across the way, on the top OF
another house he sD;ed another. big
ger drum. and flew over there. 1t
was a big ventilator. He struck it.
To his apparent delight it boomed;
and catching his toes around an iron
hoop that enCircIad it he beat out a
roll that d drummer boy might have
envied
The mystcry is that his bill did not
fly into splinters. But it didn't. The
sound, however. seemed to go to his
head, and he got craZier and crazlcr
over the galvanized iron until he dis
covered the rain pipe.
Up to this tinc the nci2hhOrS had
looked upon Lin as a youthful and de-
voted lover, who could not express
half of his feeling upon an ordinary
rotten stub, and so had taken to the
sounding hollow chimneys. They had
been amused. But suddenly all that
changed They woke up to the fact
that the bird was a raving maniac,
for what did they see one morning
but the flicker, high up under the cor
ner of roof. clntching small iron
bracket in the side of the house ana
diligently trying to drill hole through
the hard metal rain pipe.
He was hammering like a tinsmith,
and already had cut an opening half
as big as ones fist when discovered.
He had not tried to drill before; he
had been happy with the mere sound.
But something either IN the size or
shape or ring of the pipe suggested
nest to his wild wits and right
through the pipe he had gone.
He was scared off finally, but not un-
til he had let himself in and had had
a look down through the strange bot
tomless pit that he had opened.-Dal-
las Lore Sharp in st. Nicholas.