330 



BRITISH BIRDS. 



has given me many opportunities for noticing a circumstance 

 in the life of the Green Woodpecker [Gecinus viridis) which 

 hitherto I have not seen noticed. It is the method by which 

 this bird extracts the larvae of some kind of moth from growing 

 osiers or willows. I have never known these larvae to be found 

 in willows less than two years old and in plants of that age 

 the larvae are small, whereas in willows of three and four years 



TOP, APERTURE MADE BY WOODPECKER; BOTTOM, EXIT 

 BORED BY GUJJB.— Natural size. 



old they are as large as in those of eight years old. Above 

 this age I have had no experience. How the grub gets to 

 the inside of the growing willow I could never ascertain, but 

 as many of the shoots spring from stumps that are partly 

 decayed, it is highly probable that the egg from which the 

 grub is hatched is deposited in a decayed part of the stump, 

 from which position the grub could easily work its way 

 beneath the growing willow and take up the position in which 

 I have invariably found it, namely in the centre. I have 



