142 TRUNK-CLIMBING BIRDS. 



the observer comes upon the bird employed in picking 

 its favourite food — ants — from an ant-hill or some 

 well-frequented run. But the Green Woodpecker will 

 probably be heard fifty times ere it be seen once. 

 Its cry is just a huge, merry yell — -a shout, not a song 

 — ringing out with startling suddenness in the quiet 

 woodland. It is quite unlike any other bird-cry ; 

 and whilst one of our oldest poets has called it a 

 ' loud laugh,' a modern writer states that the bird 

 'yikes.' If this word is the equivalent of the 

 German jauchzen, it is exactly the right one. The 

 Green Woodpecker ' shouts for joy.' 



GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKEll— 10 inches ; conspicu- 

 ously pied wilh black and white, and having crimson 

 crown. 



LESSER SPOTTED ^YOODPECKER— 6 inches ; conspicu- 

 ously pied with black and white, and having crimson 

 crown. 



SPOTTED WOODPECKER (GREAT SPOTTED 

 WOODPECKER). — Plate C5. 10 inches. Black 

 above, but with a crimson patch on the nape, a white 

 spot at each side of the neck, and a white patch on 

 each wing, besides rows of fine white spots forming 

 transverse bars on the wing-feathers, and a little white 

 on the outer tail-feathers ; black moustachial streak ; 

 face and under parts white, but crimson below root 

 of tail ; bill large, stout, and straight. Female lacks 

 the crimson patch on the nape. Resident. 



Eggs. — 6—7, white, more rounded than those of the 

 Green Woodpecker ; '98 x -75 inch (plate 127). 



Nest. — A hole in a tree-trunk, the eggs being 

 placed upon a bedding of chips in the inner cavit}''. 



