A HEWER OF WOOD 87 



considerable distance. The bird gives one or two vig- 

 orous flaps of its wings and thus moves in an upward 

 direction, then it sails and sinks ; a few more flaps again 

 send it upwards, and so it continues until it reaches 

 the tree trunk for which it is bound. 



I do not think that the woodpecker ever takes a 

 sustained flight. It is seen at its best when on the stem 

 of a tree, over which it moves with wonderful ease in a 

 series of silent jerks, like a mechanical toy. It always 

 keeps its head pointing heavenwards and hops or jerks 

 itself upwards, downwards, or sideways, with equal ease, 

 just as though it went by clockwork. It sometimes 

 ventures on the ground, from which it digs out insects. 

 On the earth it progresses in the same jerky manner. 



I have never seen a woodpecker sitting like an 

 ordinary bird on a perch. It is often seen on branches, 

 but always lengthwise, never sitting across the branch. 

 It can move along the under surface of a horizontal 

 bough as easily as a fly walks on the ceiling. 



I sometimes wonder how woodpeckers roost. Do 

 they sleep hanging on to the trunk of some tree, do they 

 sit lengthwise on a branch as a nightjar does, or do 

 they repair to some hole? I should be inclined to 

 favour the last of these alternatives but for the fact that 

 woodpeckers seem to excavate a new nest every year. 

 This would not be necessary if each bird had a hole in 

 which it slept at night. 



Sometimes the bird digs out the whole of its nest, but 

 this is not usual. The woodpecker belongs to the 

 " labouring classes," and, true to the traditions of its 

 caste, it is averse to work, so generally utilises a ready- 



