88 BIRDS OF THE PLAINS 



made cavity. It taps away at tree after tree until it 

 comes upon a place in a trunk that sounds hollow ; it 

 then proceeds to excavate a neat, round passage leading 

 to this hollow. In this ready-made cavity it deposits 

 its white eggs, not troubling to add any lining to the 

 nesting chamber. 



Woodpeckers in England suffer much at the hands of 

 rascally starlings. These latter nest in holes, but not of 

 their own making. If they cannot find any ready-made 

 hollow they listen for the hammering of a woodpecker. 

 They wait until he has completed the nest, and then 

 take possession while his back is turned. When the 

 rightful owner returns the starling looks out of the 

 entrance with finely simulated indignation and asks the 

 woodpecker what he means by intruding. In vain does 

 the latter expostulate. J*y suis, fy reste is the attitude 

 of the starling. The result is that our feathered car- 

 penter, not being over-valorous, retires and proceeds to 

 hew out another nest. Woodpeckers in India do not 

 suffer such treatment, for starlings do not breed in this 

 country. Their cousins, the mynas, are not so im- 

 pudent. The only Indian birds which nest in holes, and 

 have sufficient impudence to eject a woodpecker, are the 

 green parrots ; but these breed in January, so that their 

 family cares for the year are over long before the wood- 

 pecker begins nest building. 



