BIRDS OF MARLBOROUGH. Ill 



have a better chance of escaping depredators; and such 

 certainly seems to be the case in the woods near Marl- 

 borough. The number of these birds is sufficient to save 

 the Kestrel and Sparrow-Hawk all the labours of nidifica- 

 tion, and the nest, if in a suitable situation, is pretty sure 

 to be occupied by one or other of these, some years before 

 it falls to pieces. 



Garrulus glandarius. Jay. 



The extent of the Forest affords shelter to great numbers 

 of this bird of ill fame from the relentless persecutions of 

 keepers. The situation of the nest varies much ; it may 

 be found at the top of the highest fir-trees of Martinsell, in 

 the tall whitethorns of the Forest, and in the hazel-bushes 

 of Polton Copse. 



Picus viridis. Green Woodpecker. 

 Probably nowhere in England is the loud laugh of this 

 handsome bird to be heard, or its perfectly circular hole to 

 be seen, more frequently than in Savernake Forest. Its 

 nest or, rather, its eggs are occasionally placed within a 

 couple of yards of the ground. This was the case with one 

 that laid its eggs in a beech-tree in the Grand Avenue in 

 1858. The attachment of this bird to its nest was so ex- 

 traordinary as to be worth recording. The nest was first 

 discovered and cut open on the 5th of May, and the old 

 bird was caught in the hole and handled for some minutes, 

 but there were no eggs ; a fortnight afterwards the hole was 

 found to have been deepened by nearly a foot, and on its 

 being again enlarged with the hatchet the bird was again 

 caught, but still there were no eggs ; the bird, however, still 

 retained her affection for the tree ; eggs were discovered on 

 the 28th, and the appearance of the hole after the mid- 

 summer holidays gave satisfactory proof that a young 

 family of Woodpeckers had been reared therein. Since 



