PAMPAS WOODPECKER n 



Woodpecker that I cannot do better than quote it 

 in full. 



44 Though this name (Campestre) seems inappro- 

 priate for any Woodpecker, no other better describes 

 the present species, since it never enters forests, nor 

 climbs on trunks to seek for insects under the bark, 

 but finds its aliment on the open plain, running with 

 ease on the ground, for its legs are longer than in 

 the others. There it forcibly strikes its beak into the 

 matted turf, where worms or insects lie concealed, 

 and when the ant-hills are moist it breaks into them 

 to feed on the ants or their larvae* It also perches on 

 trees, large or small, on the trunks or branches, 

 whether horizontal or upright, sometimes in a cling- 

 ing position, and sometimes crosswise in the manner 

 common to birds. Its voice is powerful, and its cry 

 uttered frequently both when flying and perching. 

 It goes with its mate or family, and is the most 

 common species in all these countries. It lays two 

 to four eggs, with white, highly polished shells, 

 and breeds in holes which it excavates in old walls 

 of mud or of unbaked brick, also in the banks of 

 streams ; and the eggs are laid on the bare floor 

 without any lining/* 



In Patagonia, where I have found this bird breeding 

 in the cliffs of the Rio Negro, its habits are precisely 

 as Asara says ; but on the pampas of Buenos Ayres, 

 where the conditions are different, there being no 

 cliffs or old mud-walls suitable for breeding-places, 

 the bird resorts to the big solitary ombu tree (Pircunia 

 dioica), which has a very soft wood, and excavates 



