26 LONDON BIRDS 



when made. There is a specimen of its work in the 

 British Museum a piece of the bark of a tree with 

 round holes in it neatly stopped with acorns. It is 

 not easy to say what the precise object of the bird in 

 corking his holes may be, unless it is that he has 

 stalled calves grubs not quite at their best when first 

 found fattening in pens for future use. 



Woodpeckers generally seem to be birds of an 

 inquiring turn of mind. Among the curiosities of the 

 Leyden Museum is the top of a telegraph post of 

 hard teak, brought from Sumatra, with four or five 

 deep holes drilled round the support of the wire by a 

 little black-and-white fellow with a red cap, almost 

 identical with our own London ' Spotted Woodpecker.' 



His object in drilling the holes was, no doubt, to 

 solve the mystery of the music of the wires, which 

 seems as great a puzzle to four-legged creatures as 

 it is to birds and children ; for in parts of Norway 

 much mischief is done to the telegraphs by bears, 

 which, on the principle that ' where there is smoke 

 there is fire/ take for granted that where there is a 

 ' hum ' there must be a bee, and roll away the rocks 

 piled up to keep the posts in their places to get at 

 the hidden honey. 



