When Woods are Bare. 179 



burrow in the soft material ; but the excavation in- 

 tended for a residence is cut round and true at the 

 opening, and sometimes descends two feet into the 

 solid timber. Nest, in the ordinary sense, thers is 

 none. The exquisite ivory eggs are laid on a bed of 

 chips at the bottom of the hole. 



Exceptionally powerful muscles are provided for the 

 beak which has such work to do, and it has been 

 observed that when the woodpecker strikes a blow its 

 eyelids close at the same moment. 



This curious sympathetic action, which seems to 

 have escaped the notice of writers on ornithology, is 

 evidently to protect the eyes from flying chips. 



The bird is extremely shy ; it is not easy to watch 

 the operation of nest-making. It would be interest- 

 ing to clear up the vexed question whether the chips 

 are, or are not, removed from the ground under the 

 hole so as to avoid discovery. Professor Newton 

 states that he has never known it done; but many 

 occupied nests have been found from which all 

 traces of the work had, from some cause or other, 

 disappeared. The birds, in such cases, may have 

 been prompted by painful experience or family 

 tradition. 



Few birds use their nests for shelter after the young 

 have flown ; but woodpeckers appear to sleep in their 

 holes as a regular thing, and in some instances they 

 return to the same tree to breed year after year. One 

 case is on record in which a pair of these birds, or 



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