PERCHING BIRDS. 145 



Montagu mentions the jarring sound made by this 

 species, but imagines it to be the call of both sexes to 

 each other. With this I do not agree, but think from 

 frequent observation that it is produced in the way I 

 have mentioned for the purpose of procuring food. 



The hole in which the eggs are laid is generally with 

 us hewn through the sound outer portion of the trunk, 

 until at a few inches deep the decaying wood is reached, 

 in which the hollow for the eggs is formed, for nest there 

 is none. I have met with one or two holes where the 

 bird has evidently erred in its calculations. One in 

 particular was about fifty feet from the ground, and had 

 been begun in a tree too sound for the purpose ; the 

 hole was chiselled out of the solid wood, and must have 

 cost its maker great labour, having been driven forward 

 in a horizontal direction for about nine inches, but the 

 wood continuing sound the bird had apparently become 

 disheartened in her work, and abandoned it. When I 

 first discovered it, it had not been long deserted, for I 

 took the trouble to climb up and carefully examine it, 

 measuring the depth with my stick, and ascertaining by 

 the sound that the wood at the bottom was free from 

 decay. I could not help wondering how the bird, in a 

 hole not larger than the diameter of its own body, could 

 find room to give those violent strokes with its bill which 

 would be necessary to penetrate the solid oak. 



The great Spotted Woodpecker (P. major), though 

 by no means so plentiful as the last species, is still suf- 

 ficiently so to prevent its being considered rare. It is 

 an active climber, generally taking a diagonal course up 

 a tree, and I have sometimes observed that when it has 

 reached the base of a large arm, it has left the trunk, 

 and with great rapidity run round the arm spirally for 



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