of the discovery of some Nests of the Black Woodpecker. ^t>7 



The depth of the cavity below the entrance-hole was rather less than 

 two feet, which was quite sufficient to prevent my ascertaining what 

 lay at the bottom, though there was no difficulty in introducing 

 the hand as far as the upper part of the cavity. An alarm that 

 the old stump was giving way with my weight brought me very 

 speedily to the ground. The woodman meanwhile cut down a 

 young spruce, and had it reared up against the ancient birch to 

 prevent the anticipated catastrophe. He then went up himself 

 and laid open the nest — being able to do so with his hands alone, 

 so far as to introduce the whole of his arm into the cavity. To 

 my intense delight he proclaimed that there were eggs at the 

 bottom. I immediately ascended, in order to see them in situ ; but 

 that was impossible without further enlarging the hole, for which 

 my fingers were not strong enough. The party below in the 

 interval had rigged up a long pole with a cap attached to the 

 end of it, into which I deposited the eggs, and then slipped 

 down in time to receive them once more into my hands. They 

 were five in number, one much fresher than the others, which 

 were partially incubated ; though on blowing them, it was found 

 that no feathers had been formed. In their smooth ivory tex- 

 ture these eggs very much resemble the ^ell-known eggs of 

 Picus viridis. The fresher one was of a glossy white, and suffi- 

 ciently transparent to show the colour of the yolk ; the others 

 were slightly wood-stained, and presented a duller appearance, 

 owing to their having been incubated. When blown, this diffier- 

 ence is removed; but the wood-stains of course remain, and 

 somewhat detract from their beauty. In shape they resemble 

 eggs of P. viridis, and are not so much larger as I expected 

 would be the case. 



The hole was of this year's making. However, the bird is not 

 in the habit of always making a fresh hole, as I afterwards found 

 out. Of the three inhabited nests discovered, two were new 

 and one old. Our woodman had a theory that the Spilkraka 

 occupies its " Bo " during two successive years if not disturbed, 

 and he thought that this identical pair were a young couple that 

 had just set up for themselves. Chips, some of them half an 

 inch in length, lay plentifully at the foot of the tree, giving the 

 ground the appearance of the floor of a carpenter's workshop. I 



