WOODPECKERS AND THEIR ALLIES 57 



where they have been frog-hunting to perch 

 on the top shoots of the firs. 



The frog, like the common snipe that in 

 some districts has got to be very uncommon 

 likes a nice dry place to " absquotulate " in, and 

 to think matters over ; for froggy is by nature 

 very contemplative. The herons know all 

 about this weakness of his, and they glide like 

 shadows to where he sits, with his beautiful 

 eyes staring at nothing in particular, and em- 

 balm him. 



The yaffle, when the leaves begin to fall, 

 spends quite as much of his time on the ground, 

 searching for various kinds of food, as he does 

 in the trees, if not more. At this time the 

 mimicry of the gay bird's plumage falls in so 

 perfectly with the still green grass and the 

 fading mosses which are thickly mixed up with 

 it, that if he would but keep still an impossi- 

 bility, however you could almost walk over him 

 without seeing him. As to his crimson crest, 

 that does not betray him, for so many brilliant 

 fungi of various shades, from rich orange to 

 deep crimson, spring up in his haunts where 

 he goes emmet-hunting, that the fungi might 

 easily be taken for the bird's crest as he squats, 

 or the crest be mistaken for the fungi. 



