ITI.— Where, when, and in what Numbers found. 
All three species are resident throughout the British Islands, but rare in the North of 
England, Scotland, and Ireland. On the East Coasts of England and Scotland the numbers 
of the Great Spotted Woodpecker are considerably increased during the season of migration. 
It is doubtful if the Green Woodpecker occurs in Scotland. All three species are residents. 
IV.—Food. 
Principally insects found in the crevices of barks and decayed wood of trees ; also nuts, 
acorns, &c., and occasionally fruit and seed. The Green Woodpecker feeds also largely on 
ants and their pupe. 
Y. Characteristics. 
The Woodpeckers are shy, restless birds, frequenting groves and wooded districts, where 
they may be seen flying from tree to tree, examining the bark or tapping the decayed branches 
in search of their insect food. They nest in holes, which they excavate in soft-wooded trees, 
and deposit pure white, very glossy, eggs, which are slightly pyriform in shape. 
VI. Protection. 
Wild Birds Act, 1880.—These birds appear in the Schedule. 
Wild Birds Act, 1894.—The eggs are protected in the following Counties :— 
ENGLAND—(1) Cumberland, Durham; (2) Bedford, Gloucester, Huntingdon, 
Lincoln (parts of Kesteven and Lindsey), Northampton, Stafford, Warwick, and West 
Suffolk ; (3) Devon, Hertford, London and Metropolitan Police District, Southampton. 
SCOTLAND—Berwick, Dumfries, Kireudbright, and Wigtown. 
IRELAND—Any owner, occupier, or other person taking or destroying a Wood- 
pecker’s egg, penalty £1 for each egg. 
FA lode 
GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER. GREEN WOODPECKER. 
VIT.—Remarks. 
There is no more trustworthy herald of Spring than the Green Woodpecker, or Yafile, 
as English countrymen call this handsome bird. February sunshine often beguiles the 
throstle and the merle into fallacious song, and let no wayfarer leave his wraps because the 
ringdove coos smooth assurance from the elm. There is no trust to be placed in these; but 
Illustrations, by kind permission of Messrs. Longmans, Green, & Co., from “ British Birds,” by 
W. H. Hudson. C.M.Z.S. 
