THE WOODPECKERS 47 



of their food. Even their feet appear especially 

 suited for climbing, as the toes are arranged two 

 and two, not three before and one behind as in 

 so many birds. The two and two arrangement 

 must certainly give a better grip of the inequalities 

 of the bark. 



To go back to the woodpecker that I was 

 watching, it went up the tree, then flew across 

 to the next, where it uttered the " chigh ! " 

 call, to which its mate responded. Joining 

 company, the two flew off and were quickly lost 

 to sight. 



After that I came daily to see how they were 

 getting on with the nest. It progressed rapidly, 

 the heap of chips increased steadily for a week, 

 then the task was finished and work ceased. 

 A shaft had been driven into the tree about 

 three inches in a horizontal direction, and then 

 some fourteen perpendicularly. The Green Wood- 

 pecker's nest goes a little deeper, but then being 

 a bigger and more bulky bird it has to make a 

 larger hole. For several days after the Spotted 

 Woodpecker's nest was completed there appeared 

 little doing; the owners could be heard in the 

 adjoining trees, but they kept out of sight, and 

 did not seem anxious to draw attention to their 

 work, at any rate they did not let one catch them 

 near the nest. However, their precautions were 

 in vain ; it had been observed. I had several 

 times seen a pair of starlings near the birch 

 tree, but never dreamt of what they were about 

 to do had I had any inkling I would have shot 



