46 On the Ornithology of Wilts [Picidoe]. 



and immensely strong, in short an instrument perfectly formed 

 for hammering into the wood of a decayed tree : while the 

 tongue is very long and slender, armed with a horny barbed tip 

 and sharp bristles thereon, and extends to that degree that it is 

 capable of being thrust out to a great length, and withdrawn again 

 through the mandibles when the sharp point has perforated and so 

 secured the insect prey dislodged from the trunk or laid bare 

 beneath the bark of the tree by the action of the beak : it is also 

 furnished with a glutinous substance exuding from its surface, to 

 which the smaller insects adhere, and so have no need to be trans- 

 fixed. Add to these characteristics that the head is large and the 

 body compact and small, and we have before us a structure perfectly 

 fitted for the habits of the Woodpecker race. Members of this 

 family are generally of solitary disposition, seldom associating in 

 flocks ; and they are perfectly harmless, never guilty of even the 

 slightest damage to sound or healthy trees, (which is a charge 

 frequently, though quite erroneously, brought against them) but 

 always selecting those which are hollow and worthless, and have 

 betrayed to their keen sense unmistakeable signs of decay. 



"Green "Woodpecker" (Picus viridis). This is the most common 

 species among the Woodpeckers, and a handsome bird withal : its 

 general plumage is yellowish green above, and greenish yellow 

 beneath, with a crimson head, the crimson prolonged to the back 

 of the neck : it is more often seen on the ground than its congeners, 

 probably from its extreme partiality to ants-hills and their contents : 

 its flight is heavy and undulating. Gilbert White says " volatu 

 undoso, opening and closing its wings at every stroke, and so always 

 rising or falling in curves ; " but it never needs to travel far, for 

 having ascended a tree from the bottom, in an upright or 

 spiral direction, (for it is incapable of descending unless back- 

 wards) and having concluded its examination there, and cleared 

 off all the insects in its way, it merely flies off to the next 

 tree, on the trunk of which it will fix itself near the ground, 

 and begin its spiral ascent as before. It is provincially called the 

 Yaffle or Tappingall, from its loud hearty laugh-like note, and 

 when it is more than commonly vociferous, stormy weather may 



