460 PICJD.E. 



hopes may be frustrated time after time, and she may be 

 wholly hindered from raising a brood that season. When 

 unobstructed, the same hole may be tenanted for several 

 years in succession, and Couch records (Zool. p. 6327) an 

 instance of the same tree being occupied for thirty con- 

 secutive years ; but more commonly a new hole is made 

 every season, the old holes seeming to serve as sleeping 

 chambers for the birds at other times of the year, and it has 

 been truly observed that Woodpeckers are among the earliest 

 birds to retire to rest in the afternoon. The young are 

 hatched towards the end of May, or beginning of June, and 

 when fledged are said to creep about the tree containing the 

 nest before they are able to fly. Taken at that time they 

 may be brought up by hand, and become very tame, uttering 

 a low note which has been compared to that of a very young 

 Gosling. The adults have a considerable variety of cries — 

 one, very harsh, loud, and apparently peculiar to the cock in 

 early spring, has been syllabled by De Buffon tiacacan, 

 tiacacan ; another, which may be heard almost throughout 

 the year, is a cheerful, laughing call, pleu, pleu, pleu, 

 several times repeated, and is believed by most people to 

 prognosticate rain, but some observations made with care 

 fail to establish the credit of the species as a weather-pro- 

 phet (Trans. Norf. and Norw. Nat. Soc. 1870-71, p. 31), and 

 though " Rain-fowl " or " Rain-bird " used to be, if it is not 

 now, one of the many names borne by this Woodpecker, 

 doubts may perhaps be entertained as to its fitness.* Later 



* Aldrovandus indeed said (Orn. lib. xii. cap. xxx.) — and the statement has 

 been many times repeated by other writers — that the Woodpecker "veteiibus 

 pluuire auis dictus est.'' The Editor, after much search, has not discovered who 

 these ancients were; but he believes he may confidently assert that such a name 

 does not occur in any classical author ; and if it were ever in use it may be open 

 to doubt whether the bird intended was not rather a Plover. In his next sen- 

 tence, however, Aldovandus seems to give the key to a reasonable explanation of 

 the names " Rain -bird " and " Pleupleu," applied respectively in England and 

 France, for he says: — "Prasagire vero pluuiam credebatur ex vocis sono, cum 

 nempe valid ius, quam soleret, stridere obseruabatur." The same view is taken 

 by Salerne (p. 104), who says of this species " e'est peut-etre sur son cri qu'on 

 s'est avise de dire qu'il promettoit de la pluie ;" and De Buffon also inclines to 

 the same belief. 



Considering the very insecure ground on which lest speculations as to the 



