THE GREATER SPOTTED WOODPECKER 57 



Advancing as quietly as possible, so as to avoid frightening him, I reached 

 the tree, circled slowly round it with my eyes fixed on its trunk, and saw^ — 

 nothing ! I knew that he had not left the tree, and yet I could not, for a 

 time, make him out. At last, however, I spied him, although his black and 

 white plumage, sitting as he was in a patch of bright sunlight, harmonized so 

 well with the high lights and dark shadows of the rough bark to which he was 

 clinging, as to make him wellnigh invisible. 



He seemed to realize that I had seen him, for he presently flew to the 

 trunk of the next tree, and disappeared behind it as before. He was, as yet, 

 however, unable to fly strongly, and I think I could have caught him, although 

 he dodged around the tree trunks in the most disconcerting way. 



The young of this particular species of Woodpecker differ in one marked 

 respect from the mature birds, in that the entire crown of the head is of a 

 rich scarlet colour. In the case of the adult female this colour is entirely 

 absent, the crown of the head being black. The male has also a black crown 

 to his head, with a smaU scarlet patch at the back. 



The food of the Greater Spotted Woodpecker consists mainlyi — at the time of 

 the year when they are available — of various insects and their larvae; although 

 during the autumn and winter months they seem to subsist chiefly upon berries, 

 hazel-nuts, and beech-mast. 



I recently had an opportunity of watching at close quarters the Greater 

 Spotted Woodpecker's method of splitting open and eating hazel-nuts, an 

 operation that I had not seen before, and which struck me as being unusually 

 interesting. 



It was during the early part of September, as I was walking through an 

 ancient and long disused quarry, that my attention was suddenly arrested by 

 a sharp tapping sound which seemed to issue from somewhere ahead of me. 

 At once I stood still, hoping to discover the cause of it — half imagining that 

 it would prove to be a Great Tit, or a Nuthatch. Since the tapping continued, 

 I slowly advanced, but stiU could see nothing to account for it, although I 

 was now certain that the sound originated in an old and rather decayed saUow 

 tree, of which I was within about 12 yards. 



The sound had now ceased, and I was wondering what my next move 

 should be, when to my surprise a Greater Spotted Woodpecker unconcernedly 

 flew from the saUow, and disappeared over the bushes close by. Investigation 

 showed that the foot of the sallow was littered with the sheUs of hazelnuts 

 and their green husks. 



In each case larger or smaller pieces had been split from the side of the 

 nutshell towards the smaller end, and the inside of the nut pretty carefully 

 removed, although in some cases a little of the nut, dented by the beak of 

 the woodpecker, still remained in position. 



Without further delay I concealed myself in the undergrowth in the hope 



