NOTES. 331 



alwaj^s found that the grub is situated in a soft kind of willow, 

 the hard ones being avoided, a^^parently for several reasons ; 

 first, the hardness of the wood ; second, the soft willow^s are 

 probably nicer to the taste, and more easily gnawed ; thirdly, 

 there is much more pith in the soft than the hard willows, 

 and as this is always gnawed out it may form the principal 

 food of the grub. I am strongly inclined to think that the 

 grub belongs to the hornet moth [Trochilium cqnformis). It 

 is a rather sickly yellowish- white colour, varying slightly 

 with the age and quality of the wood in which it is found, 

 the head being of a rich chestnut-brown. I have always 

 found them head upwards, which has led me to think that they 

 cannot turn in their holes, and in this position they avoid 

 their own droi3pings which accumulate in the abandoned 

 part of their tunnels. As stated, the grub's method of ingress 

 can only be assumed by me, but of its egress I can with cer- 

 tainty mention two waj^s. In one, the insect gnaws its own 

 w^ay out ; in the other, it is assisted by the Woodpecker. 



How the Woodj^ecker locates the grub is somewhat of a 

 mystery, but this it does with unfailing certainty, and often 

 effects the capture of the grub with a single perforation ; 

 sometimes two are necessary, and on very rare occasions 

 three are found — one, however, being most frequent. When 

 two or three perforations are made, I am inclined to think 

 that the grub inside the willow is alarmed at the hammering 

 of the bird outside, and moves to escape capture, rather 

 than attribute two or three punctures to the inability of the 

 bird to find the exact spot which the grub occupies. The 

 holes made in the willows by the Woodpecker vary according 

 to the thickness of the wood through which the bird chips 

 its way to the grub ; thick pieces making larger holes necessary 

 to enable the bird to work. As already stated, I do not know 

 how the bird finds the situation of the grub, but I have never 

 seen holes chipped in the wood by the bird Avithout evidence 

 of the grub having been there, and its removal has been just 

 as certain. The holes made by the bird are all similar in shape, 

 the long way of the hole being always vertical, and the wood 

 removed in making it is chipped and splintered from its sides 

 in small pieces, which run with the grain, and then broken 

 off at top or bottom, whilst those made by the grub are all 

 round, and about the same size. What has been Avi^tten 

 thus far applies to shoots of willow that are growing, but old 

 and decayed stumps often hold several grubs at one time. 

 There, of course, they cannot gnaw or feed on the pith of 

 the wood as when the wood is small and only one grub is 



