66 THE SEA-BLUE BIRD OP MARCH 



moult, which comes at the age of about ten months, 

 when they are replaced with black. Simultaneously 

 the back of the head and neck, hitherto black, becomes 

 adorned with scarlet feathers, and remains so through 

 life. No reason has been found for these changes; 

 indeed, the conspicuous colouration of the British 

 woodpeckers is very surprising and unaccountable, 

 inasmuch as birds of similar haunts and habits, such 

 as the wryneck, treecreeper, and nuthatch, have the 

 advantage of protective colouring, closely resembling 

 the bark of trees which they frequent. 



Woodpeckers the green as well as the two spotted 

 kinds are still to be numbered among the avi-fauna 

 of London, their appearance in Kensington Gardens 

 having been noted several times in recent years. 



XXVIII 



Shortly after Lord Tennyson's death, a controversy 



took place in some of the papers about the identity of 



The sea ^ k"^ re f erre( ^ to by him in In Memoriam 



Blue Bird as the ' sea-blue bird of March.' The weight 



March Q O p m i on see med in favour of the wheatear, 



which was not quite a satisfactory conclusion, seeing 



that the wheatear has not a single blue feather in its 



plumage. To quote Yarrell's description 'The head, 



back, and scapulars are of a fine light grey.' Now 



Tennyson was far too close an observer of nature to 



write sea-blue when he ought to have said pale grey ; 



so it was interesting when Dr. Gatty came forward with 



a little anecdote to set the matter at rest. It seems 



