222 THE ROLL OF THE SEASONS 



the stripe gradually swings on it to form a bar. More 

 likely, the stripes break up into dots by the breaking 

 in of horizontal lines across the vertical, and then the 

 dots join up by the sides. It is a process that takes 

 ages. Our wryneck no doubt saved a few million 

 years by taking the shortest cut from some ancestral 

 family plumage. There is a good deal of incipient 

 mottling among the woodpeckers that seems to lead 

 the way to this unique poker-work. The lesser 

 spotted woodpecker comes the nearest, and makes 

 us almost regret that the wryneck could not have 

 retained the family red crest. That touch of gaudi- 

 ness, however, would have defeated the whole plan. 

 A humble bird is our cuckoo's mate, and must there- 

 fore go humbly clad. 



