GREEN WOODPECKER. 95 



uncommon. It is permanently resident, and does not appear 

 to shift its quarters much, remaining at all seasons in the woods, 

 and occasionally betaking itself to orchards and gardens. Its 

 flight is rapid and undulated, when protracted, and all its mo- 

 tions are lively and indicative of great vigour. 



It ascends in a vertical or spiral direction the trunks and 

 branches of trees, tapping with its bill as it proceeds, to dis- 

 cover the parts in which the bark or wood is decayed. Having 

 found a place likely to yield a supply of food, it strikes the 

 bark smartly, or drives it off with repeated blows, and seizes 

 by means of its exsertile tongue the insects that have been dis- 

 turbed in their retreat. The decayed and worm-eaten wood it 

 perforates for the same purpose, its food consisting not only of 

 coleopterous insects, but of larvse of all kinds that harbour in 

 trees, and especially of that of the Cossus ligniperda, the dis- 

 agreeable smell of which is said to be frequently communi- 

 cated to it. Often in summer and autumn it betakes itself to 

 the ground, to search for insects, and particularly ants and 

 their eggs, which it picks up with its clammy tongue, after 

 demolishing the nests with its bill. It is even said by some to 

 extend its tongue in the paths of the ants, and when several of 

 them have adhered to it, to retract it. Should this statement be 

 correct, it might, in the estimation of the analogical ornitholo- 

 gists, entitle the Woodpeckers to hold a station parallel to the 

 edentulous anteaters among the mammalia ! 



It is thought to announce the approach of rain by a peculiar 

 cry, which may be likened to the syllables pie u-pleu ; but its oi'- 

 dinary note is rather harsh, and in the breeding season it emits 

 a noise resembling a shout of laughter, whence its name Yaffler. 

 In spring, like the other species, it produces a remarkable sound, 

 which has been considered an intimation to its mate, by tapping 

 with its bill, strongly and rapidly, on some decayed and sonorous 

 branch, thus causing a noise that may be heard in calm wea- 

 ther to a great distance. About the beginning of April, having 

 paired, it begins to prepare a place for the reception of its eggs, 

 by digging into the decayed wood of a beech, elm, or other 

 tree, a hole, which is carried obliquely downwards to the depth 

 of more than a foot, being at the mouth perfectly round and 



