284 NATURAL HISTORY IN ANECDOTE.

The Wood- The green Woodpecker is the variety best
pecker. known in England, where it inhabits the woods
and feeds upon the insects it finds in the bark of trees.
Audubon writing of the “Ivory-billed” variety says:—“The
birds pay great regard to the particular situation of the tree,
and the inclination of its trunk; first, because they prefer
retirement, and again, because they are anxious to secure the
aperture against the access of water during beating rains. To
prevent such a calamity the hole is generally dug immediately
under the junction of a large branch with the trunk. It is
first bored horizontally for a few inches, then directly down-
wards, and not in a spiral manner as some people have
imagined. According to. circumstances, this cavity is more or
less deep, being sometimes more than ten inches, whilst at
other times it reaches three feet downwards into the core of
the tree. The average diameter of the different nests which
I have examined was about seven inches within, although
the entrance, which is perfectly round, is only just large
enough to admit the bird.” Wilson declares that during the
excavation of its nest, which occupies several days, the wood-
pecker will often carry the chips and strew them ata distance
to divert suspicion. Audubon describing the Red-headed
Woodpecker says:—“ With the exception of the mocking
bird, I know no species so gay and frolicsome. Their whole
life is one of pleasure.”
The This bird which was known to the Greeks, and

Wryneck. described by Aristotle, forms with its allied species
a connecting link between the Woodpecker and the Cuckoo.
It feeds on caterpillars and insects which it catches with its
long sticky tongue, with such rapidity of movement that the
eye cannot follow it.

The Ouckoo. The Cuckoo is always welcomed in England
as the harbinger of Spring. Its cry is one of the most easily
distinguished of bird songs, and is the nearest approach te
a definite musical interval produced by any bird. The habit