Designation of the European Woodpeckers. 255 



pecker by the goddess Circe (a hawk ?) when she found that 

 her love for him was not requited^ but was possessed by 

 Pomona, the divinity of the fruit of trees. But, however 

 that was, the voice of the " Rainbird " {P. viridis) is to this 

 day in much repute as a prophecy of rain in many rural 

 parts of England, without any reference to the pun that 

 might catch a Frenchman's ear in the bird's reiterated cry 

 sounding like "plui, plui," as Salerne writes it. The same 

 superstition lingers, according to Malherbe, who quotes the 

 authority of J. G. Gmelin and Carl Bolle respectively, in 

 some parts of Siberia and in the Canary lelands ; while the 

 North- American aborigines hold the heads of P. principalis 

 and P. pileatus as precious amulets. And a strange colour 

 is given to the legend by the etymologists who trace in 

 " picus" the root of "specio " = I look out — the very word, 

 be it noticed, of Avhich, with " avis," the word " auspex " is 

 compounded ; they even adduce the German equivalent 

 " Specht," the Flemish "Spicht," and our provincial " Wood- 

 spite," as proof of a lost initial S. 



There are difficulties, it is true, in the way of identifying 

 the classical Picus with our P. martins. The evidence cer- 

 tainly seems all against it. That Linnaeus, after mature 

 consideration, dedicated the soldier-like Black Woodpecker 

 to Mars is the one paramount fact. 



Ovid gives the story of Picus at some length (Metam. xiv. 

 308-440) ; but he adduces no particular indication of the 

 aspect of the bird ; his only lines referring to colour (393- 

 396) — 



" Piirpureum chlamydis pennaa traxere colorem : 

 Fibula quod fuerat, vestemque momorderat aurum, 

 Pluma lit ; et fulvo cervix prsecingitui* auro ; 

 Nee quidquam antiqui Pico, nisi nomina, restat " — 



are too ambiguous ; the epithet " purple " is explained by 

 some commentators as here meaning " black ;" but, as in 

 other places it is applied to such diverse objects as snow, 

 roses, waves, eyes, spring, &c., we must conclude, with 

 Lemaire — " plura sunt picorum genera ; sed nullum eos 

 colorcs refert quos hie commemorat." 



