254 INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS OF VICTORIA. 



trees almost denuded of their bark by the attacks of these 

 birds upon them in search for grubs. The absence of 

 woodpeckers (Picidie) in Australia is partly substituted by 

 this bird, for in all other forest-bearing countries the 

 woodpecker family of birds is the natural enemy of wood- 

 eating larvre. As orchards open out in the eastern part of 

 our colony this bird will play its rdle very nicely if left 

 alone, for the time may come when longicorn and other 

 beetle larv^ will bring trouble to the trees introduced for 

 pro tit. The tap-tap of the woodpecker is not so disastrous 

 to the tree as the " bark wrencher " of the cockatoo: A 

 nom de plume writer in an old paper speaks of 

 a great mass of timber levelled in the area between 

 the Latrobe and Tanjil Rivers, in order to oust a horde 

 of hungry grubs. This happened in the vicinity 

 of Pleasant, Icy, Camp, and Russell Creeks. The whole 

 country beyond the Baw Baws seems at times to be 

 blockaded by these birds. Great scars in the trees as- 

 sume the V shape, some two inches deep, and young and 

 old very quickly disfigure a part of a forest in search of the 

 juicy grubs. The one-year-old bird is not nearly as expert 

 as the warrior of maturer years, for while he thinks and 

 hesitates, the latter knows his business, and proceeds to 

 dislodge the enemy upon a slender indication. The general 

 appearance of the nest and eggs is not unlike that of those 

 of C. galerita. 



