STARLINGS, CROWS, LARKS, WOODPECKERS, ETC. 415 



The Great 



Spotted 



Woodpecker, 



Whenever procurable, give ants also, first dis- 

 abling them before placing them in the food 

 vessel. The young, if taken at about ten days 

 old, can be hand-reared on the same food as the 

 smaller Warblers, or on live gentles, as explained 

 by Mr. Cocks in his notes on rearing Grasshopper 

 Warblers, gradually weaning them on to the 

 adult food. They require a box pattern cage, 

 2 feet or 2J feet long. 16 inches high, and 10 

 inches deep, with the usual two perches arranged 

 to rest on the middle cross- 

 bar. For exhibition, speci- 

 mens should be well ma- 

 tured with the colours riili, "^^ 

 and markings well deriivd, 

 and in good condition and 

 steady. The Nightingale 

 show-cage answers well, but 

 the higher centre perch should 

 be omitted ; the colour inside 

 should be creamy-white, with 

 the outside black. 



The Great Spotted Wood- 

 pecker, Dendrocopus major 

 (Xewlon), is 

 a not uncom- 

 mon resident 

 in thickly 

 wooded districts, breeding 

 probably throughout Eng- 

 land, but more rarely in 

 Wales and Scotland. In the 

 North it appears to be partly 

 migratory, our residents being 

 reinforced by visitors dur- 

 ing the autumn migration. 

 This bird is also generally 

 distributed in suitable lo- 

 calities throughout Europe, 

 and parts of Asia, but. 

 owing to its shy nature, it 

 is very difficult to observe. 

 It builds no nest, but lays 

 its eggs on the dust in a hole of some decaying 

 tree. A natural hole is made use of sometimes, 

 but more often this is very cleverly excavated by 

 the birds themselves, beautifully rounded and 

 frequently 12 inches or 18 inches deep. The 

 dominant colours in the plumage of this Ijird 

 arc black and white, the wings are spotted or 

 barred with white ; the forehead yellowish- 

 white ; the crown and nape blue-black, with a 

 red patch on the back of the head, and on the 

 under tail-coverts. The female is not possessed 

 of the red patch upon the head. In its wild 

 state it feeds principally upon spiders and 

 caterpillars, or ants and their cocoons, which 

 latter it digs out of the ant-hills ; failing these or 

 other insects, it will feed upon soft-skinned 

 fruits, nuts, and even acorns and berries. In 



captivity it does well on a diet of 2 parts good 

 chicken meal, 1 part fmely granulated meat- 

 meal, and 1 part ants' cocoons, mixed together 

 until crumbly moist with warm water. Make 

 sufTicient only for each day's consumption. 

 Give also live ants' cocoons, meal-worms, 

 gentles, beetles, or other insects, cither separately 

 or mixed with the food in moderation, as well 

 as fruits and berries. If reared from the nest, 

 the bird will become quite tame. iMr. J. Dew- 



WOODPECKEK S SHOW CAGE. 



hurst, of West Kensington, London, has hand- 

 reared young specimens from seven days old 

 on Spratt's Lark food, 2 parts ; Brand's Meat- 

 meal, 2 parts, ground up fme in a mill, and 

 mixed with boiling water until (■luiiilily moist. 

 The young birds were fed on this every two 

 hours from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., being given as 

 much each time as they would take from the 

 smooth point of a thin piece of wood. In 

 about nine days the youngsters could feed them- 

 selves, and the food was then changed to Spratt's 

 Chicken Meal, 2 ]iarts ; and Brand's Meat-meal, 

 1 part, mixed as before. This formed the staple 

 diet, with occasionally fruit or a few sunflower 

 seeds, or a bone, and on rare occasions a few 

 meal-worms. " I kept one Great Spotted Wood- 

 pecker," says Mr. Dewhurst, " for eleven years 



