Country Life
SIR,—I was most interested to read Mr. Niall's reference in your issue of June 27th to the greater spotted woodpecker in a friend's garden. Exactly the same thing is happening in my garden. I found some almonds in several clefts of a may-tree; the almond is quite near. I now fill up the clefts about three times a day with assorted nuts. I think the woodpeckers prefer barcelona nuts, and when they find the shells particularly hard they fly with them to the near-by pear-tree, where there is an even deeper cleft, and crack them there. I have had as many as five on the lawn at once. It is wonderful to watch the mother bird feeding her young, both clinging to the tree. Since they have been constant visitors, the green woodpecker has almost ceased
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