THE WOODPECKERS 1731 



clining to orange, the chin and throat being white. The male has a red moustache, 

 and the female a back one. Mr. W. H. Hudson writes that these birds ' ' perch 

 horizontally and crosswise, like ordinary birds, and only occasionally cling vertically 

 to trunks of trees, using their tails as supports. They also seek their food more on 

 the ground than on trees, in some cases not at all on the latter; and they breed 

 oftener in holes in banks or cliffs than in the trunks of trees." In Patagonia he 

 found the species breeding in the cliffs of the Rio Negro, but on the pampas of 

 Buenos Ay res, where the conditions are different, there being no cliffs or old mud 

 walls suitable for breeding places, the bird resorts to the big solitary ombu tree, 

 which has a very soft wood, where it excavates a hole seven to nine inches deep, in- 

 clining upward near the end, and terminating in a round chamber. In the treeless 

 region, about the Sierra de la Ventana, in Uruguay, Mr. Barrows says that he 

 noticed the birds about holes in the banks of streams, where they doubtless had 

 nests. 



Strictly birds of the Old World, these woodpeckers are plentifully 

 distributed in the temperate portions of Europe and Asia, several 

 species occurring in the Himalayas, and hence extending through the 

 Burmese countries to the Malayan Peninsula, Java, Sumatra, and Borneo. In 

 Europe there are three species, Gecinus viridis, G. sharpei, and G. canus, while in 

 Algeria there is a fourth species of the same group, G. vaillanti, a species allied to 

 the European ones; G. awokera occurs in Japan. All the other green woodpeckers 

 are tropical. The principal characteristic of this genus of woodpeckers is the green 

 plumage, and they are likewise remarkable for the small outer or dwarf tail feather, 

 which is very short for the size of the bird. One of the most interesting of 

 Eur9pean birds, not only on account of its habits and bright coloration, but from its 

 association with the poetry of Chaucer, who mentions it by the name of yaffle, by 

 which it is known to the present day in many parts of the south of England, the 

 green woodpecker ( G. viridis) still ' ' laughs loud ' ' in many a woodland district. 

 Its green color, crimson crown, and yellow rump, render it conspicuous, and its 

 dipping flight is peculiar, being a series of long drops and ascents, unmistakable to 

 the observer. Like many other birds of bright plumage, the green woodpecker is 

 extremely shy, and is oftener heard than seen. If undisturbed, it may be seen to 

 vSettle near the bottom of a tree and work its way up to the top, which it does very 

 rapidly, hammering at the bark or prizing it off, and gathering in its insect food 

 with its long suctorial tongue. It feeds largely on ants, and plays great havoc with 

 the ant hills, into which it digs great holes with its powerful bill. It is also said 

 to attack wasps' nests for the sake of the grubs, and it will, according to Naumann, 

 catch bees, as well as feed on acorns and hazel nuts. The green woodpecker un- 

 doubtedly makes mistakes on occasions, so that it is not uncommon to find holes 

 driven into trees by the birds and abandoned when the inside of the trunk or branch 

 proved to be sound throughout. The beautiful symmetry with which the bird 

 cuts the hole has often been remarked upon, the circular opening appearing as 

 if it had been drilled in the tree. No nest is made, and the eggs, glossy white, and 

 sometimes seven or eight in number, are deposited on the chips of wood accumu- 

 lated during the process of excavation. Found in suitable localities throughout 



