GREEN WOODPECKER. 287 



green woodpecker found in the neighbourhood of Elveden 

 (Sufiblk) during the previous spring, as abnormal in 

 their colouring as the plumage of the bird just referred 

 to. After stating that " the hen bird was in the hole 

 when it was cut open," lest any doubt should arise as 

 to the species these eggs belonged to, he says — " Except 

 in size, shape, and high polish, they do not at all 

 resemble the eggs commonly laid by this bird, being 

 blotched and spotted with reddish brown and tawny 

 yellow, so as to be something like those of the common 

 quail or that of the Baillon's crake as figured in 

 Hewitson's illustrations." Again, in the *^ Zoologist" 

 for 1850 (p. 2923), Mr. Newton writes— "I have 

 again, this year, obtained some eggs of the green 

 woodpecker, coloured like those of which I sent you 

 an account two years since; they were taken from 

 a nest in an elm tree. ^ ■» -^ ^ -^ From their 

 having been taken near the place where the coloured 

 eggs were found in 1848, they are all probably the 

 produce of the same bird." From a correspondence 

 which ensued upon these notices, it will be seen that Mr. 

 Newton at first, judging from the localities in which 

 they were taken, had great doubts whether the colouring 

 matter on these eggs could be owing to any fungoid 

 juices or the stain of rotten wood, but he now, I know, 

 fuiUy concurs with Mr. Hewitson's opinion thus given 

 in the 3rd edition of his " British Birds' Eggs" : — " Mr. 

 Newton has kindly sent me a drawing of the coloured 

 eggs of this species, mentioned by himself and others in 

 the 'Zoologist.' It is smeared over in the same 

 manner as the eggs of the grebes, and I have no doubt 

 at all arises from a vegetable stain." Having also had 

 the opportunity of examining some of these pecuhar 

 specimens in the cabinets of Mr. Newton at Cambridge, 

 and Mr. Newcome at Feltwell, I can only say that, 

 whatever may have been the cause of their unusual 



