GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER. 



THE WOODPECKER AND CREEPER. 



Far down in the solitudes of the deepest woods, 

 where the timid squirrels leap from tree to tree in frolic- 

 some play, where the gorgeous Pheasant and the crafty 

 Carrion Crow find a home together, where the mighty 

 forest trees hold up their decaying and storm- riven 

 branches in silent grandeur — there too the Woodpecker 

 lives, and draws his sustenance from their hoary timbers. 

 A bird the shyest of the shy, we seldom get a glimpse of 

 him, for he takes good care to search the trunk and 

 branches on the opposite side to which we are standing. 

 Sometimes, however, fortune favours us, and we are able 

 to steal a march on him and watch his actions. Rather 

 a clumsy looking bird we are apt to think, but let us 

 observe him closely, and see how well Nature has 

 provided him for his ways of life. With his strong legs 

 and claws, by the way, two pointing before and two 

 behind, one of the latter reversible, he is enabled to 



