THE WOODPECKER. 73 



auger. Sometimes, when a semi-burrowing bird, such as the 

 titmouse, enters a hollow thus foimed, and huUds its nest therein, 

 the bark grows over the entrance, and so buries the nest in the 

 hollow of the tree. Sawyers not unfrequently find various 

 objects in the trunks of trees, which have been embedded by the 

 curative powers of the tree. 



Should, however, a fungus show itself, the tree is doomed. 

 Perhaps the parasite may fall in the autumn, and the tree may 

 show no symptoms of decay; but at the first tempest that it 

 may have to encounter, the trunk snaps off at the spot where 

 the fungus has been, and the extent of the injury is at once 

 disclosed. As long as any portion of that tree retains life, it 

 will continue to throw out these destructive fungi, and even 

 when a mere stump is left in the ground, the fungi will push 

 themselves out in profusion. 



The pickaxe-like beak of the Woodpecker finds no difficulty 

 in making its way through the decayed wood, and thus the bird 

 is enabled to excavate its burrow without very much trouble. 

 The nest itself can scarcely be called by that name, being 

 nothing more than a collection of the smaller chips which have 

 fallen to the extremity of the tunnel while the bird was engaged 

 in the task of excavating. The burrow of the Woodpecker is as 

 unpleasantly odorous as that of the kingfisher. The eggs are 

 pure white. 



In the British Museum may be seen samples of the burrows 

 made by this bird, a portion of the tree having been cut off, and 

 a section made, so as to show the shape, direction, and interior 

 aspect of the hole. The specimens were obtained by Mr. Gould, 

 the celebrated ornithologist, and the illustration was drawn from 

 them. 



According to Wilson and Audubon, some of the Woodpeckers 

 of North America are able to excavate tunnels in the sound and 

 still undecayed wood. They do not however select the hard 

 wood in preference to that which is decayed, but always give 

 the precedence to the latter. StUl, they are often obliged to 

 bore through several inches of solid wood, in order to reach 

 the decayed portion in the centre. 



The burrowing powers of the great Ivory-billed Woodpecker 

 are marvellous, its chisel-like beak having been known to chip 

 splinters from a mahogany table, and to cut a hole fifteen inclics 



