4822 Tue ZooLocist—Marcu, 1876. 
coarse weeds; and again intently examining the spiders’ webs 
upon the walls. 
“Tt was quite a common occurrence to see them in open meadows 
scattering aside the horse-dung with their bills, and thus procuring 
abundant supplies of worms and grubs. I once crept very close 
to one thus engaged, and was amused to observe how cleverly it 
used its bill, first striking off large masses, and then dashing them 
into fragments in all directions by a rapid and peculiar movement 
of the head from side to side. Although telescopic evidence is 
usually of a somewhat doubtful nature, yet I spent many a happy 
half-hour in observing these interesting birds by means of a 
powerful pocket-glass. In this manner I could see them climbing 
the face of a large rock or of a rough stone wall, curiously peering 
into every crevice, and occasionally varying the amusement by a 
smart tap or two upon the unyielding surface of the stone. I once 
saw two upon the ground engaged in desperate combat, tearing, 
fluttering, and tumbling about in a most comical manner, at the 
same time uttering a shrill noise, which was half scream and half 
chatter. Upon my approaching a little too near they hastily took 
wing, and were immediately afterwards to be seen perched upon 
the top of a neighbouring rock, enjoying the warm sunshine, and 
apparently already in happy forgetfulness of their ‘little difference.’ 
The longer the birds remained in the island the more worn their 
tails and claws became, but it was only in a very few instances 
that any injury to the bill could be detected. I carefully dissected 
several of the victims above mentioned, but without observing 
anything particularly worthy of note, with the exception, perhaps, 
of the large size of the cutaneous nerves, and the closeness with 
which the skin adhered to the body. I should be glad to ascertain 
whether these peculiarities have been remarked in the green 
woodpecker, for possibly that bird’s well-known susceptibility to 
atmospheric influences may thus be in some measure accounted for, 
though why such a peculiarity should be so strongly developed 
only in certain genera is a question of a totally different nature, 
and one upon which I will not at present hazard my own imper- 
fectly matured conjectures.” 
It occurs to me to make two remarks in reference to the subject: 
Jirst, that I have the most entire confidence in every statement 
Dr. Saxby has published; and secondly, that Mr. Doubleday could 
not by any possibility have been acquainted with the habits of Picus 
