2/2 A Few Notes on Bird Life, &c. [Sess. 



farm, and one went to each animal and commenced at once to 

 peck off the clusters, and from their deliberate manner of pro- 

 ceeding we believed it was not the first operation of the kind. 

 The cows remained perfectly still, and it struck us as a strange 

 instance of mutual benefit. The birds got a good meal of 

 insect food, and the cows were relieved of an intolerable pest. 

 My friend wished to see some pictures and sculpture at the 

 Italian Exhibition, being himself an artist of no mean ability ; 

 so we went togetlier for two or three days' sight-seeing in 

 London, visiting the Zoological Gardens, Kensington Museum, 

 &c. I then went on a visit to my nephew in Somersetshire — 

 a county quite a terra incognita to me. I was there told to 

 look out at my bedroom window in the morning, when I 

 should probably see some interesting birds ; and accordingly, 

 while dressing, a fine green woodpecker came on to the tennis- 

 court, followed by a nearly full-grown young one. The old 

 bird at once began to thrust her long beak into the turf and 

 wriggle it about : this brought up numbers of ants, which 

 she very adroitly picked up and gave to her offspring, tra- 

 versing the whole length of the edge of the court, and 

 this she did regularly every morning during my visit. I 

 chanced to find a flower - pot full of soil in which was a 

 strong colony of ants, many in their winged stage. In the 

 evening I turned the whole contents out in the form of a 

 pyramid on the court, ready for the woodpeckers' breakfast, 

 but when I looked out in the morning I saw a starling very 

 busy upsetting my pyramid. He was not, however, allowed 

 to remain there many minutes ; the woodpecker came soon 

 and drove him off, and had a hearty meal. The gardener 

 complained of the unsightliness of the perforations from the 

 birds' beaks on the lawn, but as these would disappear after 

 a shower of rain and rolling, we would not have the birds 

 disturbed. There can be no doubt that ants enter largely into 

 the ordinary diet of woodpeckers ; but you may see them often 

 settle against the stem of a tree, and after giving it several 

 sharp raps, remain perfectly motionless, waiting for the ap- 

 pearance on the bark of any insects they have disturbed. 

 Green woodpeckers — " yaffles," as they are called — are not 

 uncommon in Warwickshire, Worcestershire, or Somerset- 

 shire. In a lady's garden near Temple Cloud I met with a 



