Craigmillar and its Environs, 



with its powerful beak, in which it tightly wedges fir 

 cones, thus securing facilities for pulling them to 

 pieces, one segment at a time, in order to get at the 

 seed. An illustration of this came under our notice 

 as we saw the bird feeding, and on climbing the tree 

 the cone was found tightly wedged, while the fragments 

 of others lay in profusion at the foot. 



In 1890 a great spotted woodpecker for several 

 weeks frequented the gardens in the village of 

 Liberton, and eventually became entangled in a 

 net for protecting strawberries from the depredations 

 of blackbirds. Being secured by Mr Forbes of 

 Craigievar, it was taken by that gentleman to Mr 

 Dewar, naturalist, Edinburgh, with the view of 

 having it stuffed. As it was still alive, Mr Dewar 

 pled that . the bird should be spared, a request 

 which was readily granted. It was thereupon put 

 into Mr Dewar's large aviary at the back of his 

 premises in St Patrick Square, and was fed on 

 American pea-nuts and insect food, which it seemed 

 greatly to relish. Notwithstanding that it appeared 

 to thrive, it did not become reconciled to being 



