THE WOODPECKER. 43 



to the interior of a tree, fills its centre with decay ; and if a 

 perforation be made through the trunk, so as to let out the con- 

 tained fluid, gallon after gallon of dark brown water will gush 

 forth, mixed with fragments of decayed wood, and betray, by 

 its volume and consistency, the extent of the damage which it 

 has occasioned. 



Oftentimes a large fungus will start from a tree, and in some 

 mysterious manner will sap the life-power of the spot on which 

 it grows. When the fungus falls in the autumn, it leaves 

 scarcely a trace of its presence, the tree being apparently as 

 healthy as before the advent of the parasite. But the whole 

 character of the wood has been changed by the strange power 

 of the fungus, being soft and cork-like to the touch. Although 

 the eye of man cannot readily perceive the injury, the instinct 

 of the Woodpecker soon leads the bird to the spot, and it is 

 in this dead, soft, and spongy wood that the burrow is made. 

 Mr. Waterton, who, I believe, was the first to point out this fact, 

 has shown me many exami)les of the fungus and its ravages 

 among his trees, several fine ash-trees and sycamores having 

 been reduced to mere stumps by the silent operation of the 

 vegetable parasite. 



The pickaxe-like beak of the Woodpecker finds no difficulty 

 in making its way through the decayed wood, and thus the bird 

 is enabled to excavate its burrow without very much trouble. 

 The nest itself can scarcely be called by that name, being 

 nothing more than a collection of the smaller chips which have 

 fallen to the extremity of the tunnel while the bird was engaged 

 in the task of excavating. The burrow of the Woodpecker is 

 as unpleasantly odorous as that of the kingfisher. The eggs 

 are pure white. 



