THE GREATER SPOTTED WOODPECKER. 79 



comes cold, and the snow begins to fall, it approaches villages, and flies 

 from one garden to another; it passes the night in the holes of trees; 

 when it finds dead, decayed, or worm-eaten ones, it pierces them on all 

 sides with its strong heak, in order to find the insects they conceal. It 

 never attacks a healthy tree, therefore it is not right to kill it as being 

 mischievous ; it only taps the bark of trees to make the insects come out, 

 and its strokes are then so quick that they resemble a humming. 



In the house its fierce and impetuous character makes it necessary to 

 keep it in close confinement. 



FOOD. In its wild state it constantly seeks the insects which live under 

 the bark and in the wood of trees ; it also eats ants, and in winter will even 

 take bees from the hive. 



In the house it is fed on nuts, ants' eggs, and meat. 



BREEDING. The female lays three or four perfectly white eggs in the 

 hole of a tree : if the young are to be tamed they must be taken from the 

 nest when only half fledged ; it is impossible to tame adults or old ones ; 

 we cannot even make them eat. 



ATTRACTIVE QUALITIES. The beauty of its plumage is all that can be 

 said of it; for it is so fierce, quick, and stubborn, that it can only be kept 

 by means of a chain. I know no instance in which every kind of atten- 

 tion has rendered it more docile and agreeable : it is always untractablc. 

 One or two of these chained birds, however, do not look bad as a variety. 

 It is curious to see them crack the nuts. 



THE GREATER SPOTTED WOODPECKER. 



Picus major, LINNJHCS ; L'Epeiche, ou Pic varie, BUFFON ; Der Grosser 

 Buntspecht, BECHSTEIN. 



THIS bird is rather larger than a thrush, nine inches long, 

 of which the tail measures three and a half, and the beak one. 

 The legs are three lines high, and of a bluish olive ; the iris is 

 bluish, with a white ring ; the forehead yellowish brown ; the 

 top of the head and the back black ; the nape of the neck 

 crimson; the shoulders white, the wings and tail black, and 

 streaked with yellowish white ; the belly of a dirty reddish 

 white, the part about the vent crimson. 



The female has no red on the nape of the neck. 



HABITATION AND FOOD. This woodpecker continually ranges woods and 

 orchards in search of its food, which consists of insects, beech-mast, acorns, 

 nuts, and the seed of pines and firs. In order to crack the nuts, it fixes 

 them in the clefts of the trees. The female builds its nest in the hole of a 

 tree, and lays from four to six white eggs. Before moulting the head of 

 the young ones is red. They must be taken early from the nest if they are 

 to be tamed. They ara fed and treated like the green woodpecker. 



