THE WOODPECKERS 37 



smaller than the Green, and prettily pied with 

 black and white, which is set off by its scarlet 

 ventral feathers, and, in the male, by a red cap ; 

 and thirdly the Lesser Spotted which is similar to 

 the Greater Spotted, only it is much smaller, being 

 little bigger than a chaffinch. The Green Wood- 

 pecker is the most widely distributed of the three, 

 but the Greater Spotted is fairly plentiful in most 

 parts of England, that is wherever there are big 

 woods, for its very existence is bound up with 

 the trees. The district round my home is a heavily 

 timbered one ; big woodlands cover a considerable 

 part of the country, with the result all three 

 woodpeckers are common. The brilliant Green 

 Woodpecker is an everyday visitor to the wall 

 of the sunk fence that ends the lawn in front 

 of the house, where it inspects the ant colonies 

 that lurk behind the stones, probing into the 

 crevices, and bringing to light the unfortunate 

 insects. The dainty and diminutive Lesser 

 Spotted Woodpecker is less conspicuous, also less 

 plentiful, but it exists in fair numbers, a most 

 charming inhabitant of the higher boughs of the 

 great oaks. One may see it flitting from branch 

 to branch, running up and down them like a 

 mouse, and then doing the vanishing trick by 

 slipping round a bough, so as to place solid wood 

 between it and the observer. As for the Greater 

 Spotted, it is everywhere; one hears its peculiar 

 sharp call on all sides, one catches glimpses of 

 its distinctive black and white plumage as it 

 slips from tree to tree, or of the scarlet patch 



