107 



GENUS GECINUS. 



GREEN WOODPECKER. 



Gecinus viridis (Linngeus). 



Times have changed very much since Dr. Leigh wrote 

 in 1700 ("Nat. Hist, of Lancashire, &c.") that "The 

 Heyhough* is common enough," and the Green Wood- 

 pecker is now only a rarely occurring species on the 

 whole. It may still be occasionally seen in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Grange, and perhaps nests there ; and near 

 Preston, where Mr. J, B. Hodgkinson says it used to 

 breed commonly, it does so pretty regularly yet. In 

 one or other of the thickly-wooded districts odd speci- 

 mens are shot almost every year, but this appears to be 

 generally in the winter season. It would be greatly to 

 the advantage of forestry if species like the present were 

 strictly protected by the land-owner. In the Ribble 

 valley, for instance, the timber, especially larch, is 

 suffering very seriousl}' from the ravages of coleopterous 

 larvffi ; an evil which wdll become greater every year, 

 and one to which the Green Woodpecker would apply a 

 very efficacious remedy. 



* Willughby ("Ornithology," Ray, 1678) says "The Green 

 ^Yoodpecker is by some called a Heyhoe, which name is, I 

 suppose, corrupted from Hewhole, as Turner saith it was called 

 in English in his time, and Mr. Johnson now." 



