50 The Naturalist in Siluria. 



SOME FALLACIES RELATING TO THE GREEN 

 WOODPECKER, 



One among the many curious habits ascribed to this 

 bird, in common with our other species of Woodpecker, is, 

 that the jarring noise made by it on the bark of trees is 

 a signal of communication between the sexes ! Singular 

 enough, were it true, which, in my opinion, it is not 

 instead, only a tale worthy of the credulous Pliny, or the 

 romancing Buffon. Yet Montagu not only believed it 

 but of himself has absolutely affirmed its truth, as 

 follows: "The jarring noise so frequently heard in 

 woods in the spring is occasioned by one or other of this 

 genus, which, from frequent observations, we have no 

 doubt is used as a call by both sexes to each other. It 

 is curious to observe them try every part of a dead limb 

 till they have discovered the most sonorous, and then the 

 strokes are reiterated with such velocity that the head is 

 scarcely perceived to move, the sound of which may be 

 distinctly heard half a mile." 



Now, if Col. Montagu, while listening to this peculiar 

 noise, saw the bird which made it, why was he unable 

 to tell its exact species ? The words I have italicized 

 clearly show his uncertainty in this respect ; for to such 

 an accomplished ornithologist a glance should have been 

 enough to distinguish the Green Woodpecker from either 

 of the spotted kinds. If ignorant even of the bird's 

 identity, it seems a stretch of imagination on his part to 

 endow it with a habit, or instinct, so extraordinary 

 indeed, outside nature. Surely she provides for all her 

 creatures the means of communicating with one another 

 by their own organs, without the necessity of resorting 

 to extraneous instrumental aid. I cannot think of one 



