248 THE BIRDS OF KENT 



obtained on several occasions in our lower orchards 

 adjoining the marsh at Kainham." 



Genus GECINUS, Boie. 

 GEEEN WOODPECKER. 



Gecinus viridis (Linnaeus). S.N., i., p. 175 (1766). 

 Green Woodpecker, Boys, 1792 ; Yaffle, Galley-bird. 



The Yaffle, so named in Kent from its loud laughing 

 voice, is the most plentiful of the Woodpeckers in the 

 county. There is scarcely a large wood or plantation 

 without a pair or so of Green Woodpeckers ; but this bird 

 is not confined to the woods, it may be seen in the o^^en 

 pastures adjoining the plantations, feeding and hunting 

 for insects on the ground. 



Dr. A. G. Butler states that it " usually excavates a 

 hole for itself in the partly decayed trunks of some soft- 

 wooded tree ; though in Kent I have chiefly noticed it 

 entering holes in orchard trees." Mr. R. J. Balston 

 found that it also bores into the hardest oaks, and he 

 also noticed that it was common about Pluckley and 

 Orlestone. Mr. E. Bartlett also found nests in solid oak 

 trees in East Kent. There are specimens in the 

 Maidstone Museum from Egerton, Ulcombe and Sand- 

 way, presented by Mr. Boucher, and a female from 

 Earleigh, by Mr. H. Kennard. It is included among the 

 birds of Bethersden by Captain J. D. Cameron. 



Captain Boyd Alexander {Zoologist, 1896) gives the 

 following interesting notes on the "Green Woodpecker, 

 that bird who mocks with its bright laughter the 

 treacherous coming of spring, finds it difficult to rear 



