WOODPECKERS AND THEIR ALLIES 71 



and that life is in the air. The laugh of the 

 yaffle, when he raises his crest in salutation 

 to his mate, is not more noticed than the fife- 

 like bubbling of the nuthatch by those who 

 live beneath the shadow of the trees. 



This bird can be easily watched if you keep 

 quiet ; in fact, when not interfered with, it 

 shows traits of a confiding nature. The 

 woodpeckers may do all that we have seen 

 this little sprite perform, but we have never 

 seen a woodpecker skimming along under a 

 branch back downwards, or coming down a 

 tree head first, as the nuthatch does. 



I like to hear him twit - twit - twit - twit ! 

 and to see him scuffle along the bottom of 

 the hedgerow, hunting for fallen nuts. The 

 bird's note then is the ordinary one ; the fife- 

 like bubble I have noticed belongs to the early 

 springtime alone. 



Filberts, cobnuts, and walnuts have to be 

 watched very closely in the gardens of large 

 houses out in the country just when they are 

 ripening off, or there will be a fine crop of 

 nut-hulls instead of nuts. The shells are 

 thin and the kernels large ; not only that, but 

 they are finely flavoured, so the rooks, yaffles, 

 nuthatches, squirrels, and dormice leave their 



