164 THE ORNITHOLOGIST. 



Nesting Economy of the Green Woodpecker. — In answer to Mr. 

 McCausland's enquiry, I can only say, speaking of the Midlands, that " an 

 old hand " at bird-nesting would, in searching for eggs of the Green Wood- 

 pecker, never risk a dislocation of the neck by looking upwards, he would 

 invariably look for the fresh chips lying at the foot of the tree. — W. J. Horn 

 (Bank House, Hinckley). 



In reply to Mr. McCausland's note (p. 140), I should say that the idea 

 of this bird carrying away the chips made in excavating its nesting-hole, is 

 a very pretty one, but one not founded upon facts. I have not found many 

 Green Woodpeckers' nests, but in the case of those few of which I have 

 preserved notes the chips were lying under the trees ; and so far as my 

 recollection goes this is always the case. — O. V. Aplin (Bloxham, Oxon.). 



My experience of this bird's nesting economy coincides with that of 

 Mr. D. E. McCausland, as recorded in the September number of The 

 Ornithologist. That "each chip is carried to some distance" — as is 

 positively alleged by Mr. H. F. Witherby in " Forest Birds " — I can, with 

 equally uncompromising positiveness, characterise as purely apocryphal, so 

 far as the normal habits of the species are concerned. Having ascertained 

 that a pair of birds are breeding in any circumscribed area, I can recom- 

 mend no simpler or more effectual modus operandi, frequently employed by 

 myself, for discovering the nesting site than examining the base of each 

 tree in the vicinity ; the tell-tale chips lying scattered about on the ground 

 reveal the secret in no time. Mr. Witherby informs us in his "Preface " 

 to "Forest Birds," that his "chief aim has been to accurately record his 

 own experience and observations in the life-history of the species described 

 in its pages," but it is impossible not to suppose, with regard to this par- 

 ticular issue, that he has blundered owing to an altogether inadequate 

 experience — or can it be that infelicitous vt-neration for an ancient 

 ornithological fiction has led him so hopelessly astray ! The absence of 

 chips from the base of any tree in which Green Woodpeckers were breeding 

 would surely indicate, in the great preponderating number of instances, 

 that the birds had selected a ready-made cavity ; not that the chips had 

 been removed. However, it is puerile to waste words over so obvious a 

 contingency, and, as I have nested in both Herefordshire and Hampshire, I 

 am in a position to assure Mr. McCausland that the Green Woodpecker's 

 economy differs not at all in those two counties, nor therein from my 

 experience of it in various other parts of the kingdom. — H. S. Davenport. 



Breeding Habits of the Sparrow-hawk.* — Mr. H. S. Davenport, in 

 his rejoiuder to my notes on the breeding habits of the Sparrow-hawk, has 



* Errata. — Page 141, line 2, for " Coolman " read " Coolmore " ; line 11 for 

 " Owl read " Crow." 



