PICIN^. 



273 



''\ :n%\ 



THE GREEN WOODPECKER. 



Gecinus viridis (Linnffius). 



This largest and best known of our British Woodpeckers occurs 

 in most of the wooded districts of England as far north as 

 Lancashire and Yorkshire ; beyond which it becomes rare, being 

 only occasionally found breeding in Durham, Northumberland, 

 Westmoreland or Cumberland. Across the Solway it is said to 

 have been killed in Kirkcudbrightshire, but other records from 

 Scotland require confirmation ; a bird is said to have been seen at 

 Kirkwall, Orkney, in July 1885. In Ireland — where all the Wood- 

 peckers are uncommon — this species has only twice been obtained 

 up to 1898. Even in England it is often unaccountably local, and 

 has decreased of late years without any assignable reason in some 

 districts, while, on the other hand, it has become common in the 

 extreme west of Cornwall, without reference to trees or woodlands 

 (Rodd). In Wales it is abundant in Pembrokeshire, and fairly 

 numerous further north. 



In Norway the Green Woodpecker breeds up to about 63° N. lat. : 



Y 



