50 LAKES AND RIVERS. 



day. I allow no one to touch them ; it is the safest 

 way, and there is no mistake then. Bring me to 

 the nest, boy, and you shall have your twopence, 

 or whatever it is. Here we are close upon a nest 

 soft ! " 



Just then a Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis) flew 

 from a large ash-tree and went laughing round it. 

 The tree was sound to above the first fork, 9 feet 

 from the ground. We saw no hole, but some chips 

 of rotten wood thrown out round the tree convinced 

 us that the woodpecker's nest must be near. Up 

 went one of the boys and soon reached a large hole, 

 down which he crammed his arm to the shoulder, 

 but could find no bottom. Barnes next climbed 

 up himself, but the hole was more than a yard deep, 

 and suspecting that if there were any eggs the hen- 

 bird was on them, he fastened a bit of cloth over it, 

 and taking a mallet and chisel proceeded to cut a 

 passage for his hand in the ash-tree in the quarter in 

 which he thought the nest was. At last a small hole 

 was made through the trunk, and Barnes put his hand 

 in but could not reach the nest, which was deep in 

 the heart of the tree, upon a sort of ledge. The hen- 

 bird sat close at first, but as the light was let in 

 through the hole she began to flutter, and at last made 

 a dart at Barnes's hand, he caught her and drew her 

 out ; but respecting the words of Moses (Deuter. 

 xxii. 6), he, after showing her to us, let her go. 

 She flew all round, but at length settled on a tree not 

 far off. The four eggs, much stained with the rotten 

 interior of the tree, were laid upon chips of decayed 

 wood, and about half a dozen feathers of the bird 



