GREEN WOODPECKER. 263 



bough and works upwards with diagonal or spiral course in 

 quick jerky jumps or runs, halting occasionally with head drawn 

 back and bill held at right angles to its body with an alert 

 though meditative expression ; as it proceeds it taps the bark 

 smartly, probably sounding it for hollows made by its prey. 

 Rarely, a bird will descend for a short distance, tail foremost. 

 Insects are captured by a rapid outward flick of the long 

 tongue, gummed to its tip by sticky saliva. From early in the 

 year until summer the loud ringing plue, plue, phie^ often 

 described as a laugh, and from which the bird gets one of its 

 names—" Yaffle " — is a typical woodland call. Folk-lore has 

 associated this " song " with a threat of rain, and another name 

 is " Rain-bird,'' but weather has little to do with the bird's 

 garrulity. Though it has been heard to " drum " upon wood, 

 it certainly does not use this call so frequently as the Pied and 

 Barred Woodpeckers. I have, however, heard two birds 

 tapping deliberately, and their expectant pose, as they apparently 

 tapped in turns, were expressive of listening for the answering 

 signal. The alarm note is the laugh emphasised and harshened ; 

 I have heard this angry call when a bird was chasing a passing 

 Kestrel. 



The food is similar to that of the other species, except that 

 this bird has a passion for ants. It will attack the large nests 

 in the woods, throwing aside the piled fir-needles with its bill 

 and nipping up the amazed insects with its tongue. I have 

 known it work the slope of a grass terrace from end to end, and 

 seen it at the hillocks which ants throw up on cliff-tops. When 

 seeking ants it will wander to a distance from trees ; I have 

 watched it on the low coastal marl-cliffs, and a friend saw one 

 working up a limestone face on the Little Orme. Berries, nuts 

 and acorns are stated to form part of its winter diet. 



The nesting hole is larger but similar to those of the other 

 Woodpeckers ; it may be but a few feet above the ground or at 

 the top of a tall tree (Plate io6). Five to seven glossy white 



