184 



BRITISH BIRDS 



Green Woodpecker. 

 Gecinus viridis. 



Fig 61. — Green Woodpecker. ^ natural size. 



Upper parts olive-green ; rump yellow ; under parts greenish 

 grey ; crown, back of the head, and moustaches crimson ; face 

 black. Female : less crimson on the head ; moustaches black. 

 Length, thirteen inches. 



The chief characteristic of this beautiful woodland bird is his 

 extraordinary energy. His entire structure, from the straight, sharp, 

 powerful bill, and long, barbed tongue, to the climbing feet and stiff 

 tail-feathers, used as a support to the body when clinging vertically 

 to the trunk of a tree, is admirably adapted to the laborious trade 

 he follows. And this peculiar form has its correlative in a strength, 

 boldness, and determination in attacking a hard piece of work that 

 are nothing less than brilliant. One is astonished at the force of 

 the sounding blows he deUvers on the tough bark and wood in his 

 search for hidden insects ; yet this is one of the common, small, 

 everyday tasks of his life, and not comparable to the huge labour of 

 digging a breeding-hole deep into the heart of a large branch or trunk 



