50 WOODLAND CREATURES 



this is certainly untenable. Possibly the scarlet 

 cap may be useful as a " recognition mark," 

 but the old birds surely do not need any scarlet 

 head-dress to show them where their noisy, inces- 

 santly calling youngsters are ? They call and 

 call, until the parent woodpeckers must be worried 

 out of their lives. I am writing, of course, of 

 that short period when the young, having left the 

 nesting hole, are still dependent on the old birds 

 for food. This phase passes quickly ; within a 

 few days, or a week, the family party break up, 

 scattering through the woods, and from that 

 time forward the young birds are " on their own," 

 and look after themselves. To go back for a 

 moment to their behaviour while still in the nest, 

 it is curious how noisy they become as the time 

 approaches to leave. I do not know which makes 

 the most noise, the Green or the Spotted Wood- 

 pecker, for both kinds raise a great clamour. 

 It is not the usual outcry of young birds, but 

 is a buzzing sound, and they make what an 

 old countryman described as " quite a charm " ! 

 The best description I can give is to say that 

 it sounds as if a swarm of bees and some hissing 

 snakes were having an argument. One can hear 

 the hubbub some way off; for instance, a nestful 

 of Greater Spotted Woodpeckers high up in 

 a tall tree attracted my attention when more 

 than fifty yards away. I should never have 

 known of these young woodpeckers had they 

 kept quiet. 



Once the young woodpeckers have left the 



