THE SWIFTS, WOODPECKERS, ETC. 195 



rather than by the low monotonous note, makes his way 

 noiselessly to the foot of a neighbouring tree, whence he 

 can watch the little black-and-white bird dodging round 

 the trunk, over which it appears to glide, often with head 

 downwards. It is then that a strong field-glass reveals to 

 perfection the marvellous equipment of these birds alluded 

 to above. Like the rest, it feeds on the larvae of wood- 

 boring insects, as well as on the perfect insects themselves. 

 Any one who has watched this bird clinging to a tree and 

 the swift clinging to a cliff, will be at no loss to understand 

 why the latter bird is no longer placed among the passerine 

 birds next the swallows. The lesser woodpecker excavates 

 a hole for its nest similar to that of the last species, but 

 oftener near the ground ; and I have taken the eggs not 

 more than 3 feet from the root. Eggs, 5 to 7, ^ inch ; 

 creamy white. 



The Green Woodpecker or "Yaffle," the largest and 

 perhaps least shy of all, is common in most wooded 

 districts south of Durham, very rare, in Scot- 

 Wood- land and Ireland. It is most capricious in its 

 pecker, movements, suddenly taking a violent fancy 

 to a neighbourhood apparently unsuitable hitherto, as 

 instances of which there was, not many years since, 

 a great influx into West Cornwall and a still more 

 recent immigration into Ireland, where, previous to the 

 appearance of the last edition of Mr Saunders's admir- 

 able Manual, but two examples had been recorded. This 

 bird, which is about a foot in length, is one of the hand- 

 somest of our feathered carpenters, the bright green-and- 

 yellow plumage, with the crimson crown and moustache 

 (the latter black in the female), making its identifica- 

 tion a simple matter. Like its smaller fellows, it feeds 

 chiefly on wood - insects, but I have often come across 

 it digging insects, presumably ants, out of the ground ; 

 and acorns are included among its makeshifts for insect 

 food. 



