270 Mr. W. H. Simpson's Narrative 
pie of that species came under our notice. The woodman, how¬ 
ever, told me, that he knew of two or three kinds of the Hack- 
spett; but unquestionably Ficus major is the most numerous here. 
Two inhabited nests were discovered; in one of these the cries 
of the young were plainly heard, so that we were spared the 
trouble of cutting it open. 
Suddenly the attention of the party was arrested by the mi¬ 
ni lstakeable cry of a Spilkraka. We continued to pursue the 
direction of the welcome sound until we arrived at a part of the 
forest not very far from the reported Crane marsh, containing 
several tall poplars mixed with pine and fir. Here both the birds 
were seen; but as there were several old holes, though none of 
this year's making, we scattered about in different directions, 
and then stopped to watch. After waiting for about an hour, 
one of the birds, which had evidently slipped in unobserved 
since our first sighting them, was seen to come out of a hole by 
myself, and two others, all from different points. We sprang 
up simultaneously, the alarm was given, and in a very short 
time the entire party was standing under the tree—a straight 
poplar not far short of 100 feet in height, and destitute of 
anything that could be fairly called a branch, its upper parts 
being in a broken and decayed condition. There were two old 
holes of the Spilkraka, both below the inhabited one, which was 
about 35 feet from the ground, and not of this year's making. 
As the bole of the tree was perfectly smooth and very thick, 
there appeared no reasonable chance of climbing up, so as to use 
the axe with any effect. Indeed the woodman shook his head 
at the very idea; and we knew that if he could not manage it, no 
one else could. The overlooker was perfectly willing to allow 
the tree to be felled, as black poplar here is of no value; but 
there was nothing against which it could be felled, and to bring 
such a mass at once to the ground would have been utter de¬ 
struction to everything in the nest. Nor was there any hope of 
getting a rope attached to the upper branches, which were quite 
untrustworthy. Altogether the prospect was very black indeed, 
and there seemed every probability that the second nest of P. 
martius would prove too difficult of access for us. A council of 
war was held, when it was agreed that nothing could be done 
