THE WOODPECKER. 67 



altogether it is an admirable instrument for exploring 

 orevices and persuading any grub which may lie hid therein 

 to come out to dinner. 



It is also useful in enabling the bird to lick up the juice 

 of soft fruit, though whether this forms part of his diet in 

 a wild state I cannot say. Probably it does, as it seems 

 very acceptable in captivity, a condition to which this 

 species is readily reconciled at any rate if taken young. 

 A young Woodpecker, indeed, makes a very interesting 

 pet in several ways. Like a young barbet, it possesses a 

 warty pad on the hocks, and shuffles about thereon for 

 some time, not getting really on to its feet till ifc is full- 

 fledged. It is not till then, too, that the curious arrow tip 

 of the tongue is fully developed this being at first devoid 

 of barbs. The first plumage, however, which springs from 

 a skin unclothed by any baby-garment of down, is just as 

 bright as that of the old birds, and indicates the sex of its 

 wearer at once a very rare case among birds. For the 

 young hen Woodpecker has her forehead black, sometimes 

 speckled with white Hke her mother's, while in father and 

 son the red of the crest runs forward right up to the beak. 

 How young Woodpeckers get on in their close quarters in 

 a hole hewed out by the parents I don't know, but their 

 tempers must suffer considerably by enforced restraint, 

 for I have seen brother and sister fight savagely in capti- 

 vity while still fledglings. Nor do the birds seem at all 

 sociable in their habits when wild ; indeed, one does not 

 usually see even a pair together. Business is business, 

 and a hard-working bird like a Woodpecker has no time to 

 spare for social amenities. 



