52 WILD LIFE IN THE TREE TOPS 



Spot whilst the bird is sitting, for the type of country it frequents is generally 

 covered with a luxuriant undergrowth, by which such chips of wood are effectively 

 concealed ; and one may well walk beneath the tree in which the bird is sitting 

 without suspecting in the least that she is anywhere near. 



For the bird is an exceptionally close sitter, almost as much so as the 

 Little Owl, and I have climbed a dead pine tree, at whose base the tell-tale 

 chips were scattered, in the hope of finding the bird sitting in an apparently 

 suitable hole, only to return to earth perplexed and disappointed ; for I had 

 blown into the hole, and laying my ear to it had listened carefully without 

 detecting the least suspicion of movement inside. 



Later in the season, however, I discovered that the young had been hatched 

 in an old hole, some 2 feet further up, and in which the Woodpecker must 

 have been sitting whilst I climbed the shaky tree almost to her nest. 



The eggs of the Greater Spotted Woodpecker are, like those of the Green, 

 glossy and pure white although whilst fresh, the yolk inside imparts to them 

 a pinkish tinge which is very beautiful. They usually number from four to 

 six, though as many as eight have been reported. The enthusiastic oologist 

 is sometimes terribly disappointed, after having spent some hours in digging 

 out a Greater Spotted Woodpecker's hole, to find, when at last he is able to 

 reach and withdraw one of the eggs, that it is nothing more unusual than a vulgar 

 starling's ! 



Starlings are, of course, just as ready to appropriate such a convenient 

 home as any other, regardless of how it may have been formed, and a useful 

 method of ascertaining whether a pair of them is in possession is to climb the 

 tree, and sniff at the entrance to the nest the distinctive scent of the starling 

 will quickly solve the problem. 



When the young woodpeckers are hatched, it is not a very difficult matter 

 to locate them providing of course that the old birds are known to be about, 

 for they keep up an almost constant chittering, which increases in 

 vehemence as the parent bird approaches them, and may be heard at a 

 considerable distance. Should the young be left for an unusually long time, 

 this metallic note will gradually subside to an almost inaudible whisper, as 

 though, tired of calling for food, they have dropped off into a comfortable 

 doze. 



This little chittering cry is very similar to the sound which issues from a 

 Noctule Bats' den, when the occupants are preparing for the evening fly ; 

 in fact, I have more than once mistaken one for the other. As the young 

 woodpeckers grow this cry develops into a series of sharp little cries a youthful 

 imitation as it were of the call of the parents gradually merging into a pro- 

 longed repetition ' chip-chip-chip 'which one can imitate very fairly by 

 striking two pennies together. Not until the young woodpeckers are almost 

 ready to fly, however, is their cry really resonant and determined, and at that 



