on the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.



135



later, and as I was anxious to obtain a male of this species,

I kept a very keen eye on it.


I noticed the hen bird fly to the hole and watched her in,

I waited a quarter of an hour and as she did not come out, I

concluded she was incubating and made a note to that effect in

my pocket book, so that I should know when the young would

be feathering.


On the day I considered them large enough to rear by

hand I went to the tree, but when some distance from it, was

surprised to hear such a noise going on in the hole, I naturally

thought that I had been deceived and that she had been sitting

a few days longer than I had reckoned and in consequence the

young would be larger than I had expected them to be.


With a small keyhole saw I took out a piece of the wood,

in shape like a half circle so that in case the young were not old

enough to take, the piece could be replaced just where it had

been taken from and could be fixed firmly in its place by a

small nail each side, and the difference in the size of the hole

would be only the width of the teeth of the saw.


On getting the young out (five in number) I was astonished

to find them quite naked and evidently only five days old,

probably less, for their eyes were barely open, thus proving

that instead of sitting on eggs when I saw her go in, she was

only commencing to lay her clutch. I at once put them back

and replaced the portion of wood cut out and retired some

distance from the spot to watch the hen feed and go on to brood

them. She arrived at the hole within a couple of minutes with

food and made several attempts to go in but would not, the cock

did the same, they would both go oft and return in a short time,

but refused to go into the hole. This more than astonished me,

for the Green and Greater Spotted Woodpeckers will take not the

slightest notice of the nesting hole being made larger or even

being altered in shape, as I have examined young at different

ages of both species, replaced them in the hole and they have all

been reared successfully by the parents and have flown.


I waited a full hour, but the birds did not feed, neither did

the hen go on to the nest to brood them and I knew that the

young, being so small, they would be getting quite cold, so there



