408 BIRD LIFE AT BINGHAM'S MELCOMBE 



taken, for you may find ten holes which have 

 been begun, and then abandoned, for one which 

 she has been able to complete. She wastes no 

 time, her mistake once discovered, and goes else- 

 where. When, at last, she has penetrated a tree 

 which she finds to be rotten at the core, she has 

 the far more serious labour for she has so little 

 room for her body and so little purchase for her 

 bill of carrying it down a foot or two at right 

 angles ; and then, upon the collected wood-dust, 

 without making any further nest, she deposits her 

 five or six eggs. They are of a brilliant white, 

 which, while they are unblown, allow delicate lines 

 to be seen through them, extending from end to 

 end of the egg, as delicate and regular as the 

 exquisite little lines on the blossom of the wood- 

 sorrel. 



Let me describe briefly what I saw and heard 

 while watching this particular woodpecker. The 

 chips flew fast and thick from the soft chestnut 

 tree, as the bird clung to the bole, and kept 

 hammering away at the spot she had selected, 

 only six feet from the ground. The surrounding 

 grass was soon white with them. There was no 

 attempt at concealment, though a path ran close 

 by. Indeed, for one woodpecker which I have 



