Chapter XML 



WOODPECKERS. 



Two or three times during the past week the merry cry 

 of the pied woodpecker (Pictis mandariniis) has been the 

 first clear note of my waking hours. That shows two things, 

 first, that within our Settlement limits we have a great many 

 more trees than we used to ha\'e, and secondly, that some of 

 them are beginning to decay. For though woodpeckers will 

 go anywhere if there is the sort of food they like, and will 

 search trees of all ages, their favourite hunting grounds are 

 where trees are old and more or less decayed, for there, 

 naturally, they find more of insect and grub food than else- 

 where. It is a cheery, merry note, that of the woodpecker, 

 with no suggestion of a song in it, but merely a call to let 

 his mate know his whereabouts amongst the trees. Just 

 now, you might thank your lucky stars if you caught a glimpse 

 of him as he went across the lawn or flew from one hamlet 

 to another in the country. Once amongst the trees, now that 

 the leaves are so thick, it is a hundred to one that you will 

 not seen him at all. Even in the winter, to avoid observation, 

 he has a knack of dodging round to the other side of the 

 trunk he is searching just as a squirrel will do, and it is only 

 by patient waiting that you will ever get a good clear view 

 of him close at hand, and then only if you stand or sit quite 

 still till he has lost his shyness. Then, especially if you have 

 your binocular, you will be rewarded for your waiting. The 

 mandarin woodpecker is the local representative of Piciis 

 Major at home. With a black groundwork on the back, 

 there are many pretty white and grey markings, and in the 

 case of the male a red splash on the top of the head. Under- 

 neath, as is usually the rule, the colours are lighter, greys 

 on the breast, and rosy red over the ventral parts. As I 

 have said, this species is now more or less a familiar visitor 

 to the more wooded Shanghai gardens, but he is best seen 

 farther away in the country, and he is especially fond of 

 those old clumps of firs which have grown grey in their watch 

 over the graves of the richer departed native worthies of last 

 century. 



The green woodpecker which we find about here is a sort 

 of second cousin to the mandarin. He is of the Grecinus type 



