OR, PLAIN 



nightingale. This bird does not liy like the sky- 

 lark, which mounts in the air in a perpendicular 

 direction, and hovers and sings near the same 

 spot ; but it rises to a great height, and flies in 

 large irregular circles, singing the •whole time, 

 often for an hour together. 



The wood warbler frequents 

 aged woods, and feeds among 

 the high thick foliage, upon 

 insects and their larva?. ; but the 

 nest is placed on the ground by 

 the root of a tree or bush ; it 

 is nearly round, built of moss, 

 withered leaves, dried grasses, 

 and lined with hair and fine 

 grass ; six or seven eggs, rather 

 round in form, white, with pur- 

 plish red spots. 



This bird prefers old plantations and woods 

 containing tall trees, particularly those of oak 

 or beech. The note resembles the word twee, 

 sounded very long, and repeated several times 

 in succession, at first but slowly, afterwards 

 much quicker, and when about to conclude, is 

 accompanied by a peculiar tremulous motion of 

 the wings, which are lowered by the side. The 

 note is also occasionally uttered while the bird 

 is on the wing from one place to another. 



Woodpeckers' nests will fre- 

 quently be found in the hollow 

 trunks of trees, their eggs lying 

 upon the bare rotten wood, the 



647. 



entrance being through a small 

 hole. Only three species are 

 British ; in America they are 

 exceeding numerous, mostly so 

 in the north. The lesser spotted 

 woodpecker , 15, is a beautifully 



TEACHING. 247 



marked bird ; its back is white 

 with cross bars of black ; the 

 rump white, the upper neck 

 behind black ; the top of the 

 head crimson, and the wider 

 part reddish grey, of a pale 

 shade, and streaked by lines of 

 black on the flanks. 



The sound of the woodpecker is not so fre- 

 quently heard in the winter ; but when the 

 spring begins to call the slumbering world to 

 new life, the woodpecker soon partakes i-n the 

 impulse of the season. Its first, or, at all events, 

 its loudest labours, of hammering the tree, are 

 not for the purpose of feeding itself, but seem 

 rather to be a kind of pairing call ; and it is 

 not a little remarkable that this call should be 

 a repetition of that sound which the bird most 

 frequently makes in the performance of its 

 appointed labour. The male woodpecker is 

 said to be the one which practises, or, at all 

 events, begins this curious species of signal- 

 giving. He finds a hollow portion of the tree, 

 and beats it like a drum with varied pitches 

 and cadences. If a female answers, a place for 

 the nest is soon looked for ; and if it be neces- 

 sary to excavate any portion of the tree in order 

 to make the nest big enougW^the pair feed and 

 labour by turns until it is accomplished.* 



16 



648. 



The wood-pigeon, 16, or ring- 

 dove, the largest of all the pigeon 

 tribes, builds a nest which may 

 be termed a platform of sticks ; 

 so sparingly are the twigs put 

 together, that the two white 

 eggs are easily seen through 

 them by an eye accustomed to 

 look for them. 



* Partington"* Cyclopedia. 



