136 PICID.E. 



These birds inhabit holes in trees, which they excavate or 

 enlarge for their use, chiefly in the elm or the ash, in pre- 

 ference to those of harder wood. When excavating a hole 

 in a tree for the purpose of incubation, the birds, it is said, 

 will carry away the chips to a distance, in order that they 

 may not lead to a discovery of their retreat, as other birds 

 are known to carry away the egg-shells and mutings of their 

 young birds. The Green Woodpecker makes no nest, but 

 deposits its eggs on the loose, soft fragments of the decayed 

 wood. The eggs are from five to seven in number : smooth, 

 shining, and pure white, one inch two lines and a half in 

 length, by ten lines and a half in breadth. The young birds 

 are fledged in June, and creep about the tree a short distance 

 from the hole before they are able to fly. I have known the 

 young birds to be taken from the tree and brought up by 

 hand, becoming very tame, and giving utterance to a low 

 note not unlike that of a very young gosling. The adult 

 birds also make a low jarring sound, which is supposed to be 

 the call-note of the sexes to each other. Their more com- 

 mon note is a loud sound, which has been compared to a 

 laugh, and they are said to be vociferous when rain is im- 

 pending, hence their name of Rain-bird ; and as it is highly 

 probable that no change takes place in the weather without 

 some previous alteration in the electrical condition of the 

 atmosphere, we can easily understand that birds, entirely 

 covered as they are with feathers, which are known to be 

 readily affected by electricity, should be susceptible of certain 

 impressions, which are indicated by particular actions : thus 

 birds, and other animals, covered only with the production of 

 their highly sensible skin, become living barometers to good 

 observers. The Green Woodpecker is one of the earliest 

 birds to retire to rest in the afternoon. 



I have occasionally, in the History of our Fishes and 

 Birds, endeavoured to give the explanation or derivation of 



