He held in for a spell, walking up and down the comb of the roof and shaking his head and muttering to himself; but his feelings got the upper hand of him, presently, and he broke loose and cussed himself black in the face.

I never see a bird take on so about a little thing.
When he got through he walks to the hole and looks in again for half a minute; then he says, 'Well, you're a long hole, and a deep hole, and a mighty singular hole altogether--but I've started in to fill you, and I'm damned if I DON'T fill you, if it takes a hundred years!' "And with that, away he went.

You never see a bird work so since you was born.

He laid into his work like a nigger, and the way he hove acorns into that hole for about two hours and a half was one of the most exciting and astonishing spectacles I ever struck.

He never stopped to take a look anymore--he just hove 'em in and went for more.