AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 271 



of February, and sometimes even earlier, the loud 

 jarring noise produced by this species may be heard 

 amongst the tall elms and other trees closely siu:- 

 rounding Lilford, often proceeding from two or three 

 birds at the same moment, and continued at intervals 

 from dajdight till dusk. From long and close obser- 

 vation we long ago convinced ourselves that this 

 noise is a call, and has nothing to do with intentional 

 disturbance of insect food, as has often been supposed 

 and stated, nor is it produced, as we with many 

 others formerly imagined, by the rapid vibration of 

 the bird's beak in a crack of rotten wood, but simply 

 by a hammering or tapping action which the human 

 eye cannot follow; on a calm day, or with a light 

 favouring breeze, the sound thus produced may be 

 heard at a distance of quite half a mile or even 

 more. 



This little Woodpecker is an eminently pugnacious 

 bird, and we have been much amused at the perti- 

 nacity with which it will attack Nuthatches, Titmice, 

 Tree-creepers, and others of its own species, and pro- 

 bably sex, which may encroach upon or near to its 

 favourite rotten boughs — generally, in this immediate 

 neighbourhood, the dead tops of tall elms ; but the 

 alder seems also to be an often-selected "f)leasaunce"; 

 and the island between our stone bridges at Lilford, 

 which is the home of many trees of that species 

 and horse-chestnuts, has been the principal scene 

 of our researches into the manners and customs of 

 this interesting and pretty bird. In this spot, on 

 a fine morning in February or March, one may be 

 certain of hearing the hammering in a few minutes, 

 and as certain of very soon hearing it answered, 

 either in a similar fashion or by the rapidly-repeated 



