THREE-TOED WOODPECKER. 91 



temporary supply of necessary food; again it must begin, 

 aic:u'n, and again, and yet again. 'Telle est la vie.' How 

 often! But I must not moralise, nor think that I am writing 

 a sermon. I can, however, do better recommend my readers 

 to study the 'wisdom of Solomon,' and to profit by it. 



Wilson says that this species is easily decoyed by imitating 

 its voice. 



Its food consists of insects and their eggs, caterpillars, and 

 sometimes seeds and berries. 



A hole in a pine tree is the favourite receptacle for the 

 eggs of the Three-toed Woodpecker; and these, four or five 

 in number, are of a brilliant whiteness. 



Male; length, between nine and ten inches; the bill, which 

 is remarkably broad and flattened along the basal part, is 

 bluish grey above, whitish beneath at the base; the tip is 

 obtuse a white mark between it and the eye; iris, bluish 

 black ; from it a white line runs to the nape, where it spreads 

 out; another proceeds in like manner under the eye, dilating 

 sooner, and under it is a black one, which runs into the black 

 of the back; thick and long blackish bristles, white at the 

 base, and somewhat mixed with reddish white, are about the 

 base of the bill. Forehead, glossy black, with purple and 

 greenish reflections, as have all the black parts of the plumage, 

 and thickly spotted with white; head on the sides, black, 

 and the rest black, except the crown, which is pale yellow, 

 faintly tinged with orange, with white specks shining through, 

 and spotted around as the forehead, which perhaps disappear 

 with age; neck behind, and nape, black, as described above; 

 chin and throat, white; breast, white, thickly waved and barred 

 on the sides with black; in very old birds the white prevails; 

 back, black; the feathers on the middle part are downy, and 

 barred with white. 



The wings, which expand to the width of one foot four inches, 

 reach to two thirds the length of the tail; greater wing coverts, 

 dull black, in some specimens a little spotted with white; lesser 

 wing coverts, glossy black; primaries, dull black, tipped with 

 white, (so at least says Swainson, but Wilson says that none 

 of the quill feathers are tipped with white,) and spotted with 

 white square spots on their margins, larger on the inner webs 

 and as they approach the base; the first is the longest, and 

 hardly longer than the seventh; the four following ones are 

 subequal and longest; secondaries, dull black, some of them 

 tipped with white; the inner web only is spotted, the spots 



