OCTOBER 235 



There is a strange peculiarity about the plumage of 

 nestlings. Like their cousins the kingfishers, and 

 unlike the young of nearly all other genera of birds, 

 their childish attire is as bright as that of their 

 parents. Nay, brighter, for both sexes, during the 

 first four or five months of existence wear gay 

 scarlet caps set on the forepart of the head. At five 

 months or so the feathers of this cap become dis- 

 coloured, turning quite black eventually, not by a 

 moult, but by the eclipse of the brilliant colour by 

 the sombre. Next, at the back of the male bird's 

 head, sparks of scarlet begin to appear, broadening 

 gradually into a transverse band, and this he wears 

 through life as one of his chief adornments. But on 

 the head of the hen-bird the fire once extinguished is 

 never rekindled. She has to go about her business 

 in a plain black cap bordered with white. As to the 

 purpose or significance of this freak of coloration it 

 would be difficult to offer any suggestion. 



The lesser spotted or barred woodpecker is even 

 more showily attired than his greater congener, the 

 wing coverts and scapulars being conspicuously 

 barred with black and white. The cock bird wears a 

 jaunty scarlet cap, but the hen's head-dress is plain 

 white trimmed with black. I have only once seen this 

 bird north of the Tweed. A male in fine plumage was 

 captured and brought to me in a closed basket. It 

 anticipated release at my hands by pecking a neat 

 round hole through the side of the basket, through 

 which it escaped and was seen no more. The barred 

 woodpecker may inhabit a wood for a long time 



