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occasionally, however, it deviates from this kind of life, and descends to the pollard oak, the 

 willow, or the fence-rail, and in autumn resorts to gardens for the sake of the wall-fruit. The 

 young birds of the year are particularly mischievous in this way, and are often caught in the 

 garden-net, or destroyed by the gardener's gun. Most persons must be so well acquainted with 

 the mode of progression of this and all other Woodpeckers, that a description is almost unnecessary ; 

 but I may state that it traverses in a series of jumps both the larger stems and the smaller 

 branches by means of its short tarsi, strong zygodactyle toes, and sharp curved claws, and is 

 supported, when at rest, by the close application of the stiff tail-feathers to the trunk or branch. 

 While thus rambling over their surface, it carefully scrutinizes every crevice for spiders, 

 coleoptera, and the larvae of insects. The flight is performed in a series of dippings, produced 

 by the sudden expansion and contraction of the wings." 



Mr. Sterland, in his ' Birds of Sherwood Forest,' remarks : — 



" 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 great arm, it has left the trunk, and with great 

 rapidity run round the arm spirally for several yards of its length, and then flown off to the 

 trunk, and resumed its course upwards. This motion, which was performed without a break, 

 had a very singular appearance." Mr. J. H. Gurney has sent us the following very interesting 

 note : — " Some years since a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers were confined for a short time 

 in the Zoological Gardens, in one of the cages outside the Parrot-house. They were fond of 

 traversing the wire top of their cage with their backs downwards and parallel to the ground, 

 their bellies being also parallel to the top of the cage, which they traversed not by climbing, but 

 by a succession of hops in this inverted position. I watched them for some time ; and the action 

 was so curious that, had I not seen it, I certainly should have refused to believe it. They 

 actually hopped in an inverted position, letting go of the top of the cage with both feet at once, 

 and then catching hold again a little further on, and, as far as I could see, without at all using 

 their wings." 



Concerning the curious jarring note of the bird, Yarrell writes : — 



" A particular sound, made both by the adult birds and also by the young birds of the year 

 when seeking their own living in the autumn, has reference to one of their modes of obtaining 

 food, and is thus explained by the editor of the last edition of Pennant's ' British Zoology:' 'By 

 putting the point of its bill into the crack of the limb of a large tree, and making a quick 

 tremulous motion with its head, it occasions a sound as if the tree was splitting, which alarms the 

 insects, and induces them to leave their recesses ; this it repeats every minute or two for half an 

 hour, and will then fly off to another tree, generally fixing itself near the top for the same 

 purpose. The noise may be distinctly heard for half a mile. This bird will also keep its head 

 in very quick motion while moving about the tree for food, jarring the bark and shaking it at 

 the time it is seeking for insects.' " Mr. Gould also observes : — " During the pairing-season this 

 bird produces a most peculiar, loud, jarring sound, by a rapid succession of strokes with its bill 

 upon the dead upright branch of a tree ; this extraordinary and undescribable noise resounds 

 through the forest, and may be heard at the distance of a mile in this country, and even further in 

 the still and almost lifeless woods of Norway. It also utters its ' gich'-like note at intervals 

 when perched on the pine and other trees; it was this latter note which generally drew my 



