Woodland Twilight. 77 



cannot settle for some time : each as he arrives 

 perches awhile, and then rises and tries a fresh place, 

 so that there is a constant clattering. The green 

 woodpecker approaches at a rapid pace now open- 

 ing, now closing his wings, and seeming to throw 

 himself forward rather than to fly. He rushes at the 

 trees in the hedge as though he could pierce the thick 

 branches like a bullet. Other birds rise over or pass 

 at the side : he goes through, arrow-like, avoiding the 

 boughs. Instead of at once entering the wood, he 

 stays awhile on the sward of the mead in the open. 



As the pheasants generally feed in a straight line 

 along the ground, so the lesser pied woodpecker 

 travels across the fields from tree to tree, rarely stay- 

 ing on more than one branch in each, but, after 

 examining it, leaves all that may be on other boughs 

 and seeks another ahead. He rises round and round 

 the dead branch in the elm, tapping it with blows 

 that succeed each other with marvellous rapidity. 

 He taps for the purpose of sounding the wood to see 

 if it be hollow or bored by grubs, and to startle the 

 insects and make them run out for his convenience. 

 He will ascend dead branches barely half an inch 

 thick that vibrate as he springs from them, and pro- 

 ceeds down the hedge towards the wood. The ' snop- 

 top ' sounds in every elm, and grows fainter as he 



