THE GREEN WOODPECKER 127 



at their nesting-place. They pair for life, and the old nest 

 is used year after year in a great many cases, always pro- 

 vided that it is not full of water or already occupied by a 

 Starling or a Titmouse. The Green Woodpecker breeds in 

 a hole in the trees, generally selecting some stump which is 

 rotten and easily bored. I have never known him tunnel 

 into 'sound timber. He has no cause ; besides, his bill, strong 

 as it is, would not be able to excavate a chamber large enough 

 for his needs in the short time he devotes to the operation. 

 If the outside of the timber is sound, the decayed part is soon 

 reached, and the birds display wonderful power of discerning 

 which trees are sound and which are decayed. The tree may 

 seem sound enough to the eye, but as soon as the bark and a thin 

 crust of growing wood are pierced, the centre of the trunk or 

 branch is soft as touchwood and easily scooped out. For a 

 little distance the hole is bored horizontally ; then, as soon as 

 the birds get sufficient room to turn, a perpendicular shaft is 

 sunk for a foot or more, the bottom of which is enlarged into 

 a little hollow in which the female lays her eggs. Both birds 

 assist in this work of excavation, and most of the refuse dug 

 out is carried away and dropped at some distance from the 

 tree. Nest there is none ; the six or seven glossy white eggs 

 rest on the wood-dust and chips at the bottom of the hole. 

 The first egg is generally laid as soon as the hole is completed, 

 and the full number is deposited by the first week in May. 

 Their large size effectually prevents any confusion with the 

 eggs of the other British Woodpeckers. I have known several 

 instances where the sitting-bird has been drowned in the 

 nest-hole on her eggs and young during exceptionally wet 

 weather a touching instance of maternal love, for there can 

 scarcely be a doubt that the bird could readily have escaped 

 had it so desired. 



The food of the Green Woodpecker is composed of the 

 various kinds of insects that infest the timber, together with 



