46 BIRDS OF TUNISIA 



the higher oak-forests of Ghardiinaou, El-Fedja, Ain-Draham, and 

 Camp de la Sante. Baron v. Erlanger also met with it in the Aleppo- 

 pine woods near Ain-bou-Dries, in the high plateaux country further 

 south. 



In Algeria this Woodpecker has been met with by various travellers, 

 and seems to be generally distributed throughout the wooded parts of 

 Constantine, and particularly of the Aures range, and in some districts 

 it is by no means uncommon. In Marocco the species occurs through- 

 out the Atlas districts, and Mr. Meade-Waldo found it very common 

 in the mountains, even above the limit of trees (Ibis, 1903, p. 212). 



In the description of forest it frequents, G. vaiUantl appears to 

 show no marked preference, being found equally abundant among 

 deciduous oaks, ever-green oaks, or coniferous trees, and in this 

 respect apparently differs from G. viridis, which more or less shuns 

 the latter. In the fine forest country lying immediately north of the 

 Medjerdah Valley, which may be considered as the principal habitat 

 of the species in Tunisia, the lower-lying woods are mostly of cork- 

 oak, while the upper ones are of deciduous oak, with a thick under- 

 growth of tree-heath, bracken, and other low-growing plants, patches 

 of rich grass land intervening here and there. It is in the higher 

 woods that Woodpeckers, both Green and Pied, are chiefly to be met 

 with, and during the spring and summer months it would be difficult 

 to find more perfect or ideal breeding quarters than these secluded 

 forest retreats, where vegetation is so luxuriant and water is never 

 wanting. 



That G. valllanti should also occur in the dry Aleppo-pine woods 

 furth'er south in the Regency, may at first sight seem som^\vhat 

 remarkable, but it is not so surprising when we consider that these 

 woods are situated on high tableland, at a considerable altitude above 

 sea-level. The temperature of these districts is said to be cool and 

 pleasant during the greater part of the year, excessive heat, even in 

 mid-summer, being unknown there. 



In its habits G. vaillanti more or less resembles G. viridis, being 

 active, restless, and v;ary ; it is indeed far more wary than the 

 preceding species, and extremely difficult to approach. Its flight, 

 like that of G. viridis, is dipping and undulating, and its food consists 

 chiefly of insects and their larva*, which are extracted from the 

 trunks and branches of old trees, or taken on the ground. Ants and 

 their eggs are said to be a favourite food of this bird. Like G. viridis. 



