WOODPECKERS AND THEIR ALLIES 55 



rounded by woods and thick copse growth, lead 

 away to fir-covered hills beyond ; then comes a 

 great tract of country, once the home of the wild 

 red-deer, followed by St. Leonard's Forest ; and 

 like a dim line of blue haze, shimmering in the 

 heat, beyond all, the South-Down Hills. 



Tap-tap-tap -.-.-.- tap-tap-tap-tap-tap-tap- 

 tap - . - . - that sound has roused us from our 

 day-dreams. I had crawled like a cat over the 

 big roots of a tree, and drawn myself up by 

 the side of one of the great trunks. 



Tap-tap-tap ! comes again, almost over my 

 head ; but no yafBe can I see, although a frag- 

 ment of rotten wood has almost fallen on my 

 shoulder, one that the bird has struck off with 

 his powerful bill. The bird is quite certain 

 that we have not seen him, but he thinks he 

 will have a bit of a shift all the same ; so away 

 he goes, scuttling over the limbs and branches, 

 the claws of his climbing machines clicking, as 

 he progresses, like those of a cat. 



The shadows dance and flicker ; my eyes are 

 tired through peering so much in the ever- 

 varied light, and my neck has got a kink in it 

 through craning about. But for all this snaking 

 round and about I have not yet seen my friend, 

 so closely do those olive shadows and yellow- 



