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The Lady William Cecil,



white spots, and the tail is black, with a little white on the middle

feathers. Underneath he is all pale yellow. The head and throat,

where crimson in the male, are white in the female.


This lovely bird does not, I fear, live np to the saying that

“handsome is that handsome does,” for morally he is the “black

sheep” of the family, in spite of his fine feathers; for although

he devours slugs and grubs and insects in quantities and fruit in

moderation like the rest of his kind, he also enjoys a feast of the

soft inner bark of the fruit trees as well, and also the sap, of which

he is inordinately fond. His tongue is not extensile, therefore, in

order to reach the sweet juice, he will rip off the bark in great

patches, instead of boring holes as any well-conducted Woodpecker

should; and he does this “barking” of the trees to such an extent

that many are killed.


These Yellow-bellied Woodpeckers, or Sap-Suckers as they

are also called, build in holes in trees like the rest of their species,

making very deep nests. The noise of their tapping and curious

“ drumming ” may be heard far and wide on a summer’s day. They

have a very sharp, clear call-note.


The Log-Cock, or Pileated Woodpecker (Hylotomus pileatus)

is one of the larger members of the tribe, and a very fine bird he

is, with black back and black and white wings, throat and head;

the white is sometimes tinted with a yellowish shade. The male

bird has a bright scarlet crest and a scarlet moustache. The crest of

the female is red mixed with black.


Among the big trees of the deep forests this Woodpecker

has his home. The female Woodpeckers do most of the excavating

for their nests, but the male birds help too, and the hammering is

loud and prolonged as they both work away at the making of their

nest’s doorway. They often come to the ground for food. I once

watched an old mother Woodpecker teaching a young one to feed

on grubs in the ground. The parent bird buried her bill deep in

the earth and pulled out a nice fat grub, which she at once popped

into the little one’s open mouth ; baby then tried to do the same,

and attempted to bury its bill in the ground, which happened to be

rather hard, and it only succeeded in penetrating a short way, and

quickly drew it out again and shook its still downy-feathered head,



