52 WOODLAND CREATURES 



in the nest, and that is when they hesitate at the 

 mouth of the hole and consider the question of 

 leaving it for good. The biggest and strongest 

 go first, but at the most only a few hours separate 

 their different starts in life. They are launched 

 into the world with a considerable store of 

 inherited knowledge : they are experts at once 

 in the art of climbing ; need but little experience 

 to fly as well as their parents ; their instinct will 

 tell them how to peck and bore to find the timber- 

 dwelling insects, but all the same, like all living 

 creatures (with the lowest exceptions), they will 

 profit and learn by experience. And on their 

 ability to do so will depend whether they live 

 to mate, bore out a nesting hole, and rear in their 

 turn a hungry, noisy family. 



That the Greater Spotted Woodpecker has 

 much increased of late years in certain districts 

 I have already mentioned, and it is certainly 

 to be hoped it will continue to do so, and that 

 it will spread to those parts where it is yet un- 

 common, for it adds much to the interest and 

 beauty of our woodlands, where it does much 

 good and no harm. It destroys many harmful 

 insects, but as far as injury to timber is concerned 

 I have never seen a Greater Spotted Woodpecker's 

 hole bored in a sound tree. I cannot say so 

 much for the Green Woodpecker, as I did once 

 find a pair nesting in what appeared to be a quite 

 good tree, but it too prefers soft wood to bore 

 in, and usually chooses a half-decayed poplar, 

 or some such valueless tree in which to make 



