294 PiciD^. 



otherwise. Just as a carpenter sounds a wall with his 

 hammer in order to discover where the brickwoi-k ends 

 and where lath and plaster begin, so the Woodpecker sounds 

 the wooden pillar to which it is clinging, in order to 

 discover where the wood is impenetrable alike by insects 

 and itself, and where the former have been beforehand 

 with it in seeking food or shelter. Such a canker-spot 

 found, it halts in its course, tears off piece-meal a portion 

 of bark and excavates the rotten wood beneath, either as 

 far as the fault extends or as long as it can find food. 

 It is, then, by no means a mischievous bird, but the 

 reverse ; as it not only destroys a number of noxious 

 insects, but points out to the woodman, if he would only 

 observe aright, which trees are beginning to decay and 

 consequently require his immediate attention. This aspect 

 of the Woodpecker's operations seems far more just than 

 that contained even in modern books ; " it is a great 

 enemy of old trees in consequence of the holes which it 

 digs in their trunks." 



But with all his digging and tapping, the sound by 

 which the vicinity of a WoodjDecker is most frequently 

 detected, especially in spring and summer, is the unmis- 

 takeable laughing note which has gained for him the name 

 of " Yafler." No more perhaps than the mournful cooing 

 of the dove does this indicate merriment ; it is harsh, too, 

 in tone; yet it' rings through the woods with such jovial 

 earnestness that it is always welcome. On such occa- 

 sions the bird is not generally, I think, feeding, for if 

 the neighbourhood from which the sound proceeded be 

 closely watched, the Yafler may frequently be observed to 

 fly away, with a somewhat heavy dipping flight, to another 

 tree or grove, and thence, after another laugh, to proceed 

 to a second. It is indeed oftener to be seen on the wing 

 than hunting for food on the trunks of trees. Very 

 frequently too it may be observed on the ground, especially 

 in a meadow or common in which ants abound. 



