130 THE GREEN WOODPECKER 
wood is impenetrable alike by insects and itself, and where the former 
have been beforehand with it in seeking food or shelter. Such a 
canker-spot found, it halts in its course, tears off piece-meal a portion 
of bark and excavates the rotten wood beneath, either as far as the 
fault extends or as long as it can find food. It is, then, by no means 
a mischievous bird, but the reverse ; as it not only destroys a num- 
ber of noxious insects, but points out to the woodman, if he would 
only observe aright, which trees are beginning to decay and conse- 
quently require his immediate attention. This aspect of the Wood- 
pecker’s operations is the right one and not the old idea that ‘ it 
is a great enemy of old trees in consequence of the holes which it 
digs in their trunks’, as some old writer states. 
But with all his digging and tapping, the sound by which the 
vicinity of a Woodpecker is most frequently detected, especially in 
spring and summer, is the unmistakable laughing note which has 
gained for him the name of ‘ Yaffle.’ No more perhaps than the 
mournful cooing of the dove does this indicate merriment; it is 
harsh, too, in tone; yet it rings through the woods with such jovial 
earnestness that it is always welcome. On such occasions the bird 
is not generally, I think, feeding, for if the neighbourhood from 
which the sound proceeded be closely watched, the Yaffle may 
frequently be observed to fly away, with a somewhat heavy dipping 
flight, to another tree or grove, and thence, after another laugh, to 
proceed to a second. It is indeed oftener to be seen on the wing 
than hunting for food on the trunks of trees. Very frequently too 
it may be observed on the ground, especially in a meadow or com- 
mon in which ants abound. 
The admirable adaptation of the structure of the Woodpecker 
to its mode of life is well pointed out by Yarrell. Its sharp, hooked 
toes, pointing two each way, are eminently fitted for climbing and 
clinging. The keel of the breast-bone is remarkably shallow ; hence, 
when ascending (its invariable mode of progress) a tree, it is enabled 
to bring its body close to the trunk without straining the muscles 
of the legs. Its tail is short, and composed of unusually stiff 
feathers, which in the process of climbing are pressed inwards 
against the tree, and contribute greatly to its support. The beak 
is strong and of considerable length, and thus fitted either for digging 
into an ant-hill or sounding the cavities of a tree; and the tongue, 
which is unusually long, is furnished with a curious but simple 
apparatus, by which it is extended so that it can be thrust into a 
hole far beyond the point of the bill, while its tip is barbed with 
small filaments, which, like the teeth of a rake, serve to pull up the 
larva or insect into its mouth. The Woodpecker builds no nest, 
but lays five or six glossy white eggs on the fragments of the decayed 
wood in which it has excavated its nest. 
Other names by which this bird is known are Popinjay, Wood- 
sprite, Rain-bird, Hew-hole and Woodweele. 
