WOODPECKERS 97 



This is caused by the rapid hammering of the beak on a dry branch, and not, as 

 was formerly believed, by the trembling of the branch. The eggs of these birds 

 are of a pure brilliant white, and are laid in a hole made by the parents, which is 

 too small for any larger bird to enter, and is perhaps a foot deep, the only lining 

 being a few of the chips that have not been cleared out. 



Great Black The great black woodpecker (Picus martins), the largest of 



Woodpecker. ^j le European species, generally frequents forests of considerable 

 extent, whether pine or otherwise, provided they contain old trees with stout 

 stems and are not disturbed by man. It makes little difference to the black 

 woodpecker whether the forest be on the mountain or in the plain. In 

 Germany this species is rather scarce, it very seldom appears in Schleswig-Holstein 

 and Denmark, and never in Holland or the north of France. In England 

 it has been incorrectly reported as a visitor, but in East Prussia, as well as 

 in many districts of Pomerania and the Mark, it is by no means rare. The range 

 of the species extends from the Vosges to the northern slopes of the Himalaya, 

 the east of Siberia, and the forests near Pekin. The female makes her nest in 

 smooth-stemmed beech-trees and pines, and always chooses a tree in some stage 

 of decay. The eggs are laid in the second half of April, and after eighteen 

 days the young are hatched. The old birds feed these from their crop with the 

 larvae of ants and other insects ; and they remain in the nest until fledged, 

 when they disperse in all directions, for the old birds do not sutler their young 

 to remain very long in their vicinity. Black woodpeckers are solitary, and very 

 shy and suspicious. Their favourite food is the large forest-ant, in search of 

 which they turn up its habitations with their beak, and then pick out the insects 

 with their long, sticky tongues. 



spotted The spotted woodpeckers, as their name implies, are mostly black 



woodpeckers. an( j white. Their best known continental representative is the 

 greater spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopus major), a species rare in forests from 

 which pines are absent. In autumn it seeks its food outside the forest, and then 

 visits copses, orchards, and gardens near villages, being generally accompanied by 

 tits and goldcrests. Its favourite trees are poplars and willows, but its nest may 

 be found in a pine or fir tree, especially if a soft-wooded deciduous tree be not at 

 hand. Besides insects and their larva?, the greater spotted woodpecker eats seeds, 

 beech-mast and hazel-nuts, which it squeezes into a crevice and then hammers till 

 they break. It ranges from Lapland to Italy, and from Spain to Corea. 



The white-backed woodpecker (D. leuconotus) is a much rarer bird, living 

 chiefly on the mountains among pines and beeches, only occasionally on the lower 

 hills, and hardly ever in the plains. Partly resident, partly a bird of passage, to 

 Germany it is a rare visitor, and only in Silesia and the Mark is it said to nest ; 

 it is found over Scandinavia, Poland, Galicia, the Carpathians, the Alps at 

 Salzburg, the mountains of Dalmatia, the Balkans, Russia, and eastward across 

 Siberia to the valley of the Amur. In its habits it is more or less like the other 

 woodpeckers, but is not so noisy, and much less shy than many of them, and 

 differs from some in eating oily seeds, in addition to insects and their larvae. It is 

 about 10 inches in length, being slightly larger than the great spotted woodpecker, 

 and may be easily recognised by the pure white colour of the lower part of the 



vol. 1. — 7 



