THREE-TOED WOODPECKER. 91 
temporary supply of necessary food; again it must begin, 
again, and again, and yet again. ‘Telle est la vie. How 
often! But I must not moralise; nor think that I am writing 
a sermon. I can, however, do better—recommend my readers 
to study the ‘wisdom of Solomon,’ and to profit by it. 
Wilson says that this species is easily decoyed by imitating 
its voice. 
Its food consists of insects and their eggs, caterpillars, and 
sometimes seeds and berries. 
A hole im a pine tree is the favourite receptacle for the 
egos of the Three-toed Woodpecker; and these, four or five 
in number, are of a brilliant whiteness. 
Male; length, between nine and ten inches; the bill, which 
is remarkably broad and flattened along the basal part, is 
bluish grey above, whitish beneath at the base; the tip is 
obtuse—a white mark between it and the eye; iris, bluish 
black; from it a white line runs to the nape, where it spreads 
out; another proceeds in lke manner under the eye, dilating 
sooner, and under it is a black one, which runs into the blaek 
of the back; thick and long blackish bristles, white at the 
base, and somewhat mixed with reddish white, are about the 
base of the bill. Forehead, glossy black, with purple and 
greenish reflections, as have all the black parts of the plumage, 
and thickly spotted with white; head on the sides, black, 
and the rest black, except the crown, which is pale yellow, 
faintly tinged with orange, with white specks shining through, 
and spotted around as the forehead, which perhaps disappear 
with age; neck behind, and nape, black, as described above; 
chin and throat, white; breast, white, thickly waved and barred 
on the sides with black; in very old birds the white prevails; 
back, black; the feathers on the middle part are downy, and 
barred with white. 
The wings, which expand to the width of one foot four inches, 
reach to two thirds the length of the tail; greater wing coverts, 
dull black, in some specimens a little spotted with white; lesser 
wing coverts, glossy black; primaries, dull black, tipped with 
white, (so at least says Swainson, but Wilson says that none 
of the quill feathers are tipped with white,) and spotted with 
white square spots on their margins, larger on the inner webs 
and as they approach the base; the first is the longest, and 
hardly longer than the seventh; the four following ones are 
subequal and longest; secondaries, dull black, some of them 
tipped with white; the inner web only is spotted, the spots 
