144 ENGLISH BIRD LIFE 



tangled herbage at the foot of the tree. He seems 

 out of place here, standing almost upright, as 

 though he were still facing the bole, and he pro- 

 ceeds bv a series of short hops, pausing abruptly 

 to thrust his bill into the grass. Where ants abound 

 he fares sumptuously, but cockchafers and flies of 

 all descriptions are readily taken. When the vora- 

 cious nestlings are awaiting a meal, he exercises 

 great ingenuity and self-denial. In place of 

 swallowing each morsel as he discovers it, he merely 

 withdraws it within the sheath of the bill, and then, 

 with chafer, beetle, or fly, ranged in a disorderly 

 row, he wings his way back to the nesting-place. 



The cavity in which the young are reared is 

 usually in an elm, poplar, or sycamore, and rarely 

 in a beech or an oak. It is hewn horizontally into 

 the tree, both parent birds labouring in turn, and 

 is beautifully round and symmetrical, the edges 

 being neatly smoothed. The Woodpeckers never, I 

 think, attack perfectly sound timber; but, before 

 the site is selected, thev have learned by tapping 

 and listening that the trunk is rotten within. Thus, 

 when the soft, decayed parts are reached, they have 

 little difficulty in carrying the tunnel downwards 

 for a foot or more, and here, on a bare bedding of 

 chips, the four to six translucent, white eggs are 

 laid. Sometimes these are found to be suffused 

 with varied and beautiful hues, altogether unlike 

 the normal colouring of eggs, and it is thought that 

 they have become stained either by the sap or by 

 some fungoid growth within the tree. 



In addition to the Green Woodpecker, several 



