GEEEN WOODPECKEE. 117 



over the sparkling water, and illuminated by the brilliant sun- 

 light, it shone like a living gem (August 4th, 1884). The 

 so-called small Kingfishers, distinguished in some parts of 

 Oxfordshire by their shorter bills, are merely young birds of 

 the year, in which the bill is not nearly so long as in the 

 adults. 



THE GREEN WOODPECKER. ^ 



Gecinus virklis. 



The Green Woodpecker is a resident, and in some parts of 

 the coimty is not at all uncommon. About Oxford it is 

 tolerably plentiful (H. A. Macpherson, MS.), and in Nuneham 

 Park, where old timber abounds, it is particularly numerous ; 

 but in the neighbourhood of Standlake, Mr. Warner does not 

 remember having heard its cry more than once or twice 

 during his eight years^ residence in that village. In the north 

 of the county it is far from uncommon, especially in and 

 about the various parks and park-like gTouuds. At King-ham, 

 Mr. Fowler notes it as resident and apparently commonest in 

 autumn ; this is the case in other parts of the county, and is 

 doubtless owing to the fact that it is more generally diffused 

 at that season, and more observed. Shy and unobtrusive in 

 the breeding season, and naturally to a certain extent re- 

 stricted to the more wooded situations, retii-ing into the woods 

 themselves in those districts which afford them, it wanders 

 freely in autumn and winter in search of food, and its 

 laughing cry is then a not at all uncommon sound. 



The Green Woodpecker obtains a large proportion of its 

 food upon the ground, and may be observed in grass-fields, 

 often at a little distance from trees, and especially in those 

 scattered over with ant-hills, into which the Woodj^ecker 

 thrusts its beak and face up to the eyes in search of the 

 insects. It is certainly their habit to feed thus in winter, 

 and not in summer only as stated by some wi-iters ; of the 

 number of specimens I have handled in the former season 



