620 
BIRD-LIFE. 
and weasels assassinate both young birds and adults 
while they are asleep, while man knocks their houses 
about their ears, banishing them further and further 
every year, so that the poor creatures can only find a 
safe retreat in such woods and forests as are inaccessible 
to man. The chase of the Black Woodpecker is unre- 
munerative, as the bird has such a disagreeable odour as 
to be unfit for food. Unfortunately in former days it was 
everywhere customary to set a price on its head, because 
it was considered by the forest conservators to be destructive 
to timber! Now, both the Black Woodpecker and its 
cousins are preserved by all sensible foresters, and justly 
looked upon as their best and most useful friends. 
