THE WOODPECKER. 81 



as bright as that of the old birds, and indicates the 

 sex of its wearer at once — a very rare case among 

 birds. For the young hen Woodpecker has her 

 forehead black, sometimes speckled with white like 

 her mother's, while in father and son the red of the 

 crest runs forward right up to the beak. How young 

 Woodpeckers get on in their close quarters in a hole 

 hewed out by the parents I don't know, but their tem- 

 pers must suffer considerably by enforced restraint, 

 for I have seen brother and sister fight savagely 

 in captivity while still fledglings. Nor do the birds 

 seem a1 all sociable in their habits when wild ; indeed, 

 one does not usually see even a pair together. 

 Business is business, and a hard-working bird like 

 a Woodpecker has no time to spare for social 

 amenities. 



Laborious as the lives of Woodpeckers seem to be, 

 however, they are a thriving clan, and are spread 

 all over the world except in the AustraUan region, 

 from the icy jjine-f orests of the Arctic regions to the 

 warm damp jungles of South America. 



The Golden-backed Woodpecker has not so wide 

 a range as some other species, but it is still a very 

 numerous bird, being found all over India except in 

 the higher hills. It varies to a certain extent with 

 locality, like so many other Indian birds, Sind spe- 

 cimens being paler and South Indian ones darker 



F, BC 6 



