CHAPTER XLIII 



Green Woodpeckers Ants Parasitic Worms He wholes Retrogression- 

 Wild Cherries Turn of the leaf Plumage of Woodpeckers Tongue of 

 Stock Doves Falcon and Pigeon A stern chase Problems of 

 Nature Ignorance of suffering Homer Pigeons The risks of a race 

 Stock Dove's nests And names Value of Fir trees Planting for game 

 or timber Lessons in nidification Buarthmeini St Tudor Lizards 

 and Snakes. 



August i^th. In walking over the hills to-day, to 

 Trawsfynydd, I met with Green Woodpeckers in several 

 places, in the clumps of birch, alder, and stunted oaks, 

 which so beautifully fringe the slopes of many of the 

 upland glens, weeping over the stream at their foot, or 

 draping, with softer verdure their rugged gorges. This is 

 the woodpecker of the district, the Coblyn-y-coed, or "goblin 

 of the wood," of residents, 1 so named from its laughing 

 call in spring. It is somewhat local in distribution, but on 

 the whole rather common here. Its habit of often wander- 

 ing away from trees, to feed upon ants, and other ground 

 insects, in open places, or on hedge-banks, is well known. 

 At this season of the year, when it is specially addicted to 

 roaming afield, if indeed the young do not partially migrate, 

 I used frequently to meet with it, singly, in pairs, or in 

 family parties, on the hills at the very confines of tree 

 growth. Sometimes one would rise unexpectedly from 

 the heather almost at my feet, and with harsh cry, as it 

 flew undulating back to the wood, give warning to a 

 companion who might be feeding fifty yards further on ; 

 or, again, they might be disturbed from amongst the moss- 

 grown rocks, on some bare hillside, right away from the 

 trees. In either case, an examination of the ground would 

 generally disclose a raided ant-hill as the object of attraction; 

 and the stomach of one shot in such a situation was found 



1 Other names are Cnocell-y-coed, Tyllivr-y-coed, and Tarad-y-coed, all re- 

 ferring to its wood-boring propensities, and Caseg-y-ddrycin, equivalent to 

 " Rain-bird." >' 



362 



