94 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



washed up, but this may have been one frightened out to sea. 

 High wind from the E.N.E. on the 30th, and gale on the 31st. 



November. 



1st. — Greater Spotted Woodpecker at Yarmouth (E.Saunders), 

 after a gale from E. There is no European Woodpecker so mi- 

 gratory as Picus major. Others afterwards in the same neighbour- 

 hood, and two sent to Mr. Cole, of Norwich, and one to Mr. Gunn. 



2nd. — Quail shot at Palling, by the coast, and another on the 

 15th, had their crops full of seed, chiefly of wild goosefoot 

 {Ghenopodium album), (Bird). 



11th. — Woodpecker Notes. — A Great Spotted Woodpecker! 

 (Picus major) has lately, day after day, and generally in the morning, 

 been seen upon the withered brauch of a large stone-pine {Pinus 

 pinea) — always the same branch — hammering at it with might and 

 main. This hard labour has now been going on regularly for a 

 fortnight. Sometimes it hammers at the dead bough, and some- 

 times at fir-cones placed on the bough, which it may be seen to 

 gather from a couple of adjacent Scotch firs (P. sylvestris) ; but 

 it is always on this particular bough, which has some mysterious 

 attraction. Having placed the cone in position, it begins near 

 the apex, where the scales have not expanded, and picks as much 

 of it to pieces as is needful in its search for the seeds, which lie 

 between the scales, leaving the hard base untouched. It probably 

 jams the cones into a crack, or it may be into a hole which it has 

 made in the dead branch. Such holes are about the size of a 

 shilling, and are not uncommon ; but it never struck me before 

 that they were intentionally made as receptacles. Occasionally 

 this amusing bird will take a cone in its beak, look round to see 

 that the coast is clear, and then, if the observer remains quite 

 motionless, resume its hammering. It never sits crossways, 

 and each hammering only lasts a few seconds, but is very 

 resonant. Probably it extracts the seeds, which are very small, 

 by means of its long tongue — 1*5 in. in length — which is fur- 

 nished with a horny and no doubt glutinous tip ; but I suppose 

 it can only get them by this means when the cone is ripe, and 

 the scales expanded. The tongue of a Woodpecker is indeed a 

 singular organ, curiously adapted for its purpose, and is beset at 

 the end with little barbs. When at work on its favourite branch 



