92 GREAT BLACK WOODPECKER. 



Clement Ley saw the Great Black Woodpecker at Ruckhall Wood, 

 Eaton Bishop, about the year 1874, and pointed it out to his cousin, 

 Mr. Edward Du Buisson, who also saw it there. On writing to 

 Mr. Ley on the subject, he replies that " he has not the least doubt 

 about it," and he says " that besides this instance he has on two or 

 three occasions heard the note of this bird in the neighbourhood 

 of Ross, without being able to get a sight of it." " The secret of 

 meeting with rare birds in England," Mr. Ley adds, " is to be found 

 in familiarising oneself with their notes in countries where they are 

 more common. Thus, by learning the note of the Great Black 

 Woodpecker on the continent, I have met with this bird on several 

 occasions in England. The note resembles the ' chuck, chuck ' of 

 the Great Spotted Woodpecker, but it is much louder and more 

 harsh, and is generally uttered at intervals of from ten to sixty 

 seconds. The last occasion on which I heard it was in 1876, at 

 Mount Edgecombe, in Devonshire, when standing with my daughter 

 close to a thick oak coppice, and waiting for a few minutes, we 

 got a fine view of the bird." 



The note is said by some observers to remind the hearer of a 

 loud hoarse unearthly laugh. 



Mr. D. R. Chapman also saw' the Great Black Woodpecker at 

 Belmont (about a mile from where Mr. Ley and Mr. Du Buisson 

 had seen it, as already noticed) — in the spring of 1879. His 

 attention was called to it by his son, as it flew from a copse to a 

 tree standing in open ground. To make sure of the species, he 

 crawled along the meadow for some sixty or seventy yards, and 

 was rewarded by a clear view of the bird. 



The Great Black Woodpecker is familiarly called by the 

 Norwegians, Gertrude's Bird. Thorpe gives the legend as follows : — 

 "Our Lord in His wanderings on earth, accompanied by Saint 

 Peter, came to a woman who wore a red hood on her head, who 

 was engaged in baking. The wanderers were weary and hungry ; 

 and our Lord begged the woman, whose name was Gertrude, to 

 give Him a cake. She took a little dough, and set it on to bake, 



