470 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



know not — built in the tree that stands at the comer of Wood Street, 

 Cheapside. — T. Vaughan Roberts (Verulam House, Watford). 



Habits of the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. — Subsequently to a brief 

 sojourn on Lundy Island during May of the present year, I had the pleasure 

 of spending a few days at Clovelly, where I was favoured with excellent 

 opportunities for watching some of the habits of Dendrocopus minor, a 

 little bird whose life-history, by reason of its rarity and exceeding shyness, 

 does not readily lend itself to close examination. On three or four con- 

 secutive mornings I found the male bird — the female, doubtless, was busy 

 with the cares of incubation — haunting the topmost branches of a patriarchal 

 elm immediately in front of The Court, and even if it was not in my mind 

 on first coming out of doors, my attention was sure to be speedily arrested 

 by its curious and far-reaching " krark-rk-rk-rk-rk-rk," which sound I had 

 little difficulty in establishing to my own personal satisfaction was caused 

 by the astonishingly rapid vibration of the bird's beak against the limbs of 

 the tree. I believe this is the generally accepted explanation of one of the 

 most peculiar sounds in nature. Nevertheless, the motion of the bill was 

 so rapid as to be virtually indiscernible to the eye, even with the aid of 

 field-glasses. The noise produced, syllabled as above, somewhat long drawn 

 out, and with just the suspicion of a tremolo when heard at a distance, 

 has been likened to various sounds ; but it struck me — ambushed as I was 

 close by — that it resembled more than anything else that caused by 

 cumbrous branch, partially detached from the main stem, gradually swaying 

 to and fro with each extra heavy gust of wind. What, however, provided 

 me with matter for still more earnest reflection was the way in which the 

 little bird frequently gathered its food. Never stationary for long together, 

 time after time it would take insects from under the leaves after the manner 

 of the Phylloscopi. Occasionally it would vary this procedure by darting 

 out and capturing an insect on the wing, in this respect reminding me 

 forcibly of the Spotted Flycatcher. With its pretty dipping kind of flight 

 and nesting economy I was already familiar, having come across the species 

 on more than one occasion during the spring months in Herefordshire ; 

 also with its note, " pseep, seep, seep, seep, seep, seep " — resembling on a 

 modified scale the cry, suggestive of mockery, of the Kestrel, and not 

 unlike that of the Wryneck ; as a rule, on uttering this note, the example 

 I watched so long and attentively in its favourite haunts raised and threw 

 its head well back. But the method of capturing its food, as recorded 

 above, came to me as a revelation, and, so far as I am justified in my 

 assumption — I can find no allusion to it anywhere— it is a detail which, for 

 obvious reasons, we can hardly affect surprise at having been passed over 

 in silence by writers on ornithology. Of the natural beauties of Clovelly 

 and its surroundings most people know by repute ; that is, of course, another 



