LESSER-SPOTTED WOODPECKER. (J3 



Tlie undulating flight and laugh-like cry of the Green Wood- 

 pecker used to be more common than they seem to be now, and 

 the great multiplicity of provincial names seems to show that 

 once it must have been an exceedingly common bird. I have 

 rarely seen or heard it here : and no wonder. For where once 

 there were miles of forest, now we have scarcely 100 acres of 

 Vood in the whole district. This Woodpecker's cry is loudly 

 and frequently uttered before impending rain ; whence one of its 

 common or by-names. It breeds in holes in trees, which it often 

 excavates in part or enlarges to suit its wants. It makes no 

 nest, but deposits its eggs, four to seven in number, and per- 

 fectly white, on a bed of the soft decayed wood of the tree. The 

 eggs average rather over 1^-inchin length, by about f-inch broad. 

 No illustration being possible in our space of purely white eggs, 

 I think it better to append their measurements, 



127. GREAT SPOTTED WOODPECKER (Picus major}. 

 Pied Wood pecker, French-pie, Wood-pie, Whitwall, Great 



Black and White Woodpecker, Wood-nacker. A not very 

 uncommon bird in some localities, and very rare in others now- 

 a-days. It is less likely, too, to betray its presence by its note 

 than the Green Woodpecker, and is so shy and so capable of 

 concealing itself or keeping the trunk of a tree always between 

 itself and any prying observer, that doubtless it is deemed to be 

 more rare than it really is. It seems to prefer the vicinity of 

 woods, but may be seen occasionally where woods do not abound, 

 and sometimes even it resorts to places where abundance of old 

 posts or decaying tree-trunks lead it to expect a plentiful repast. 

 It breeds in holes in trees, making no nest, and laying its four 

 or five eggs on just such a bed as its green namesake. The 

 female is very averse to leaving her eggs, and shows almost as 

 much pertinacity as a Tomtit in abiding by them. They are 

 1 inch long by f -inch broad. 



128. LESSER SPOTTED WOODPECKER (Picus minor}. 

 Barred Woodpecker, Hick-wall, Little Black and White Wood- 

 pecker, Crank-bird. A pretty little bird, very shy, very active, 

 very able to keep itself out of sight, and so, hardly noticed by 

 one in a hundred of those whom Miss Edgeworth would class as 

 more or less nearly connected with the widely-spread family of 

 No-eyes. It is said to prefer large woods of Beech ; and like 

 the other Woodpeckers, makes no nest, but places its eggs in a 

 hollow tree, accessible by only a small hole, the means of access 

 being often at a considerable distance from the eggs laid below. 

 The eggs of this little bird are four or five in number, Durely 

 white, though seeming to be suffused with a delicate pink line 



