128 THE GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER 



Spotted Woodpeckers. Their habits and manners were very 

 amusing, especially whilst searching for food. They alighted on 

 the timber, placed the body in a particular position, generally 

 with the head downward ' [differing in this respect from the Green 

 Woodpecker], ' and commenced pecking away at the bark. Piece 

 by piece it fell under their bills, as chips from the axe of a woodman. 

 Upon examining the bark, I foimd that the pieces were chipped 

 away in order that the bird might arrive at a small white grub which 

 lay snugly embedded in the bark ; and the adroitness of the bird in 

 finding out those portions of it which contained the greatest number 

 of grubs, was certainly very extraordinary. Where the birds were 

 most at work on a particular tree, I shelled off the bark and found 

 nearly thirty grubs in nine squares inches ; but on shelling ofE 

 another portion from the same tree, which remained untouched, 

 no grub was visible. Yet how the bird could ascertain precisely 

 where his food lay was singular, as in both cases the surface of the 

 bark appeared the same and bore no traces of having been per- 

 forated by insects. During the day one bird chipped off a piece 

 thirty inches long and twenty wide — a considerable day's work 

 for so small a workman.' Another observer states that this bird 

 rarely descends to the ground, and affects the upper branches 

 of trees in preference to the lower. Its note is like that of the Green 

 Woodpecker. Both species are charged with resorting to gardens 

 and orchards during the fruit season, not in quest of insect food ; 

 but no instance of this has come under my own notice. It is said, 

 too, that they eat nuts. This statement is most probably correct, 

 I myself doubt whether there are many birds of any sort which 

 can resist a walnut ; and I would recommend any one who is hospit- 

 ably disposed towards the birds which frequent his garden, to 

 strew the ground with fragments of these nuts. To birds who 

 are exclusively vegetarians, if indeed there be any such indigenous 

 to Britain, they are a natural article of diet, and as from their 

 oily nature they approximate to animal matter, they are most 

 acceptable to insectivorous birds. They have an advantage over 

 almost every other kind of food thus exposed, that they are not 

 liable to be appropriated as scraps of meat and bread are, by prowl- 

 ing cats and dogs. A walnut, suspended from the bough of a tree 

 by a string, will soon attract the notice of some inquisitive Tit, and, 

 when once detected, will not fail to receive the visits of all birds 

 of the same family which frequent the neighbourhood. A more 

 amusing pendulum can scarcely be devised. To ensure the success 

 of the experiment, a small portion of the shell should be removed. 



