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of considerable depth. For this purpose it selects 

 those trees which are in a decaying state, or the 

 softer kinds of wood, such as the aspen, to which it 

 is very partial. When thus engaged, the strokes of 

 its bill are repeated with such velocity that the head 

 is scarcely perceived to move, and the sound, it is 

 said, may be heard distinctly at the distance of 

 half a mile. It makes no nest. The eggs, four 

 or five in number, are of a bluish white hue. 



WOODPECKER, GREATER SPOTTED. 



Piers MAJOR, Lin. 



The Greater Spotted Woodpecker is extensively 

 distributed in England and Scotland, as well as in 

 Ireland, in which country it is permanently resident. 

 It frequents woods and plantations, especially 

 those of beech and pine, feeding on the insects and 

 larvee which it obtains in the decayed bark and 

 wood. The eggs, which are placed on chips of 

 wood in a hole formed in a tree, are generally five 

 in number, pure white and glossy. 



