168 TEXT-BOOK OF ZOOLOGY 



for its services in the shape of the seeds of pine and fir trees, for do we 

 not also pay country, labourers for collecting and destroying the insects 

 which devastate our woods ? 



Related Species. 



The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker (D. minor) has been already 

 referred to. The Great Black Woodpecker (Dryocopus martins) is the 

 largest of the European species (length 18 inches). Its plumage is black, 

 with the exception of a red spot on the head. It is not a native of Britain. 

 The Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis) is not a true forest bird, but 

 prefers districts where small woods alternate with fields and meadowlands. 

 Its favourite food consists of ants, which it catches with its long, sticky 

 tongue. For this reason also it frequents the ground, the green tints 

 predominating in the colour of its plumage (describe this more fully), 

 here serving it as good protection against goshawks and sparrow-hawks. 

 A more distant relative of the woodpeckers is the Wryneck (lynx 

 torquilla). Though possessed of " scansorial " feet, the bird can only 

 use them for holding on to the trunks of trees, its soft and flexible 

 tail-feathers not affording it any assistance in climbing. The beak is 

 weak, and not adapted for chipping. Its food, therefore, mainly consists 

 of ants ; these it catches on the ground or on tree-trunks, by means of 

 its vermiform, slimy tongue. Its plumage exactly resembles the colour 

 of bark and the soil. When surprised by an enemy, the bird resorts 

 to all kinds of curious performances (protective), by which it endeavours 

 to frighten its captor : it erects the feathers of its head, spreads out its 

 tail and wings, rolls its eyes, stretches forth its long neck, and twists 

 its head like a snake, at the same time widely opening its bill and 

 hissing like a viper. 



ORDER III.: CUCULINE BIRDS (COCCYGOMORPH^E). 



BEAK usually long. The tongue short and flat. The feet are of the 

 climbing or perching type, often with one or two reversible toes. 

 Young helpless. 



The Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus). 



Old and young rejoice when the note of the cuckoo once more 

 resounds in the wood, for then we know that the stern rule of winter 

 is at an end. To be sure, we rarely get sight of the bird, for it is 

 very shy. It is about the size of a dove. The plumage is ash grey 

 above, greyish-white with many black transverse bars on the under 



