WOODPECKER. INSESSORES. PICUS. 377 



as the preceding, is rather generally diffused through the 

 woody districts of our island. I have seen it in Scotland, 

 on the banks of the river Spey, and amid the wild scenery of 

 the Dee. In Northumberland, scarcely a year passes with- 

 out some of these birds being obtained in the months of Oc- 

 tober and November. This induces me to suppose that they 

 are migratory in some of the more northern parts of Europe, 

 perhaps in Norway and Sweden. They arrive about the 

 same time as the Woodcock and other equatorial migrants ; 

 and generally after stormy weather from the north or north- 

 east. They moult at a late period, as several of those which 

 have come into my hands have been in that state as late as 

 the I Oth of November. In habits, this species greatly re- 

 sembles the Green Woodpecker. It feeds on the different Food, 

 insects that are found in the interstices of the bark of trees, 

 but, according to TEMMINCK, does not strictly confine itself 

 to them, as it eats also nuts, and seeds of various kinds. It 

 rarely descends to the ground in search of food, or makes an 

 attack upon ant-hills, like the former species. In the spring, 

 and during the breeding season, it very frequently makes 

 the jarring noise mentioned in the foregoing description ; 

 and MONTAGU relates that a female bird, which he found 

 some difficulty in driving from her nest, immediately flew to 

 the decayed branch of a neighbouring tree, and began that 

 sound ; which was answered by the male from a distant part 

 of the wood, who very soon joined her, and both continued 

 to make these vibrations. The most sonorous branches, or 

 those in a particular stage of decay, are always chosen for 

 the purpose. The eggs of this bird, to the number of four Nest, &c. 

 or five, and of a clear bluish-white, are laid in a deep hole, 

 in the trunk or large branch of some decaying tree, which it 

 excavates for itself; and which excavation has in general 

 two openings, to facilitate the inhabitants' escape in case of 

 sudden danger. The young, on quitting the nest, and prior 

 to the first moult, have the crown of the head red, and the 

 occipital band black, in which state it has, by some writers, 



