GREEN WOODPECKER. 463 



spectiiig the second syllable of this name and of that next 

 to be considered, nothing can be said that would not be con- 

 jectural and therefore better omitted. 



"Hickwall," of which the older form seems to be "Hic- 

 waw " (Hollyband, suh voce Pic), or " Hickway " (Cotgrave, 

 Fr. Diet, sub voce. Pic et Piverd), is possibly from the 

 Anglo-Saxon Higera or Higere (T. Wright, Vocabularies, 

 pp. 29, 62, 281), which signifies a laugher and doubtless 

 refers, like Yaffil, to the bird's cry. But on the other hand 

 "Hickway" was sometimes written ''Heigh-haw" and 

 " Highawe " (Cotgrave, suh voce. Beschebois, Bequebo et 

 Oriot), and hence, when its original meaning was lost, it 

 seems to have been corrupted, in obvious reference to the 

 bird's habits, into "Hewhole," a name still used, as it was 

 more than three centuries since, when Turner latinized it into 

 HuJwla ; and now further corrupted in America into " High- 

 hole " or "High-holder" (Bull. Nuttall Club, 1881, p. 84). 

 Yet it must be remarked that Holzhaiier is said by Bechstein 

 to be one of the German names of the Green Woodpecker.* 



Though sufficiently common to be well known in most of 

 the wooded districts of the greater part of England, there 

 are some in which it is said to be seldom seen. In Corn- 

 wall, until lately, it was extremely rare ; and, according to 

 Eodd, was wholly unknown until 1873 near the Land's End 

 — a locality, however, comparatively treeless. It was long 

 believed never to occur in the Isle of Wight, but there is 

 now good evidence of its occasionally straying thither, an 

 example having been killed, it is said (Zool. p. 6583), near 

 St. Helen's in May, 1855,' while others are recorded as seen 

 or heard in the island (Zool. pp. 915, 6853, 9608; s.s. pp. 

 443, 2224). Precise details of its topographical distribution 

 await further research, which in time may possibly explain 

 its rarity or abundance in certain districts ; but its numbers 

 must to some extent depend upon changes that are much 

 within man's control. It is of course encouraged by the 



* This dissertation might have heen much extended, so as to include many of 

 the other names by which the bird is known ; but want of space necessitates its 

 limitation to those mentioned by Mr, Yarrell. 



VOL. II. B 



