THE WOODPECKERS 41 



I have never found a nest on the sunny side of 

 the trunk. Only bird photographers can appreciate 

 what an annoying habit this is, for an attempt 

 with the camera means working under the most 

 difficult conditions of light and shade, the nest 

 being in the shadow while the light shines into 

 the lens. As there is usually a reason for such 

 a habit, we may ask whether it has anything 

 to do with keeping the young cool, though you 

 would imagine that it would have to be a very 

 hot sun to penetrate through the wooden walls 

 of the nest, but young birds are sensitive to the 

 slightest extra warmth. I have seen nestling 

 skylarks, when the sun shone on their nest, so 

 distressed that, after lying and panting for a time, 

 they at last crawled out and took refuge in the 

 surrounding herbage. Young buzzards too I have 

 seen lying prone in their nest on the side of a 

 mountain ravine, gasping helplessly with heat, 

 and seeming incapable of movement. In fact, 

 young birds of all kinds not only hate the 

 sun, but are greatly distressed when the tempera- 

 ture rises, so we may feel fairly sure that the 

 Greater Spotted Woodpecker's preference for a 

 northern aspect is not accidental, but is to guard 

 against the sun shining down the entrance to 

 its nest. 



As a rule the nest of both the Spotted and the 

 Green Woodpecker is excavated in the trunk of 

 a tree, seldom in a branch, which latter is the 

 favourite site of the Lesser Spotted. This 

 pretty little woodpecker not only likes a branch, 



