PAMPAS WOODPECKER II 
Woodpecker that I cannot do better than quote it 
in full. 
“ Though this name (Campestre) seems inappro- 
priate for any Woodpecker, no other better describes 
the present species, since it never enters forests, nor 
climbs on trunks to seek for insects under the bark, 
but finds its aliment on the open plain, running with 
ease on the ground, for its legs are longer than in 
the others. There it forcibly strikes its beak into the 
matted turf, where worms or insects lie concealed, 
and when the ant-hills are moist it breaks into them 
to feed on the ants or their larve. It also perches on 
trees, large or small, on the trunks or branches, 
whether horizontal or upright, sometimes in a cling- 
ing position, and sometimes crosswise in the manner 
common to birds. Its voice is powerful, and its cry 
uttered frequently both when flying and perching. 
It goes with its mate or family, and is the most 
common species in all these countries. It lays two 
to four eggs, with white, highly polished shells, 
and breeds in holes which it excavates in old walls 
of mud or of unbaked brick, also in the banks of 
streams; and the eggs are laid on the bare floor 
without any lining.” 
In Patagonia, where I have found this bird breeding 
in the cliffs of the Rio Negro, its habits are precisely 
as Azara says; but on the pampas of Buenos Ayres, 
where the conditions are different, there being no 
cliffs or old mud-walls suitable for breeding-places, 
the bird resorts to the big solitary ombt tree (Pircunia 
dioica), which has a very soft wood, and excavates 
