The Woodpecker's Chisel From several other districts than Hereford and
Essex, whence came earlier observations, come accounts of wood- peckers turning their attention to telegraph and electric posts. The reason for this curious taste has not been dis- covered, unless they drill for nesting, and it is quite a mistake to suppose that this tribe (whether green or spotted) only selects weak and decayed wood. A less credible story is reported from America, from Kansas. In the drought a woodpecker is said to have punctured the hose with which a gardener had been watering his lawn ; and a flourish is set on the story (perhaps by the journalist) by the addition that the woodpecker was fetched by a posse of other birds who were desirous of water. Well, woodpeckers not infrequently drill holes in beehives and tits rip off the top of sealed milk bottles left on doorsteps. It is not a great advance to punc- ture a hole in a hosepipe, though rubber, or lead, must test the quality even of a woodpecker's beak.
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