CARPENTER BIRDS 15 



the idea that half-a-dozen axe-men had been at work 

 the whole morning." The great black woodpecker 

 of the Scandinavian and North European forests, 

 which has occasionally strayed to England, bores holes 

 in sound wood for its nest, as well as in decayed 

 trees, but is said to choose the softer kinds for the 

 work. 



