WR YNECK 99 



its fellows. It eats all kinds of insects, fruits, and seeds, but, unlike the green 

 woodpecker, is never seen ant-hunting on the ground ; and it makes its nesting- 

 hole at the end of April, generally at a height of about 30 feet, in some decay- 

 ing bough. The cocks of this beautiful species may be compared in size to a 

 sparrow, and are distinguished by their scarlet crowns from the more soberly 

 coloured females which have no red. 



Green The green woodpecker (Gecinus viridis) is the best known of 



woodpecker, the three species of its genus inhabiting Europe. The deciduous trees 

 of the forests of the temperate zone are the favourite haunt of this woodpecker, 

 which avoids the gloomy evergreen mountain- forests, and takes up its abode in 

 sunny open spaces amid such woods as have orchards in their vicinity. Under 

 stress of cold and snow it may, however, seek food and shelter in the wilder 

 upland forests; but in mild winters it stays near its nest. Never crossing 

 the Mediterranean, it is known to nest in Norway in 63° N. latitude ; while 

 westwards it is found in France and the British Isles, and eastwards as far as 

 Persia. In the east it is rarer than in the west, its place there being taken by the 

 grey woodpecker (G. canus) ; and it is unknown in Spain, where it is represented 

 by Sharpe's woodpecker (G. sharpei). The green woodpecker nests in some 

 hollow tree, at a height of from 7 to 40 feet or thereabouts ; the absolutely 

 •circular hole going horizontally into the tree, and then curving downwards as 

 a tube-like passage with smooth sides, narrower at the top than at the bottom. 

 In the beginning of May from six to eight gleaming white eggs are laid in the nest, 

 which, like those of other woodpeckers, has only a few chips and splinters for its 

 lining. The green woodpecker will not only climb timber, but also walls, such as 

 those of churches and houses ; and its movements are quicker than those of any other 

 •of the group. Its principal food consists of ants, which in winter it chisels out with 

 its beak from the frozen ground ; but it also eats other insects, which it seeks on 

 trees, as well as nuts and acorns. As its name implies, this woodpecker is principally 

 green, with a red and grey crown, the male being distinguished by a red and black 

 moustache, which in the female is black. In the grey woodpecker the crown is red 

 only in front, the grey extending from the back of the head down the nape of the 

 neck. In other respects these birds are generally similar, as they also are in their 

 habits and haunts. The grey species, as already mentioned, is however found more 

 in the east of Europe, and ranges as far as China and Japan as a nesting-bird. 



Some naturalists include the wrynecks in the same family as the 

 Wryneck. . ■ . 



woodpeckers ; others constitute them a family to themselves ; while, 



owing to the shape of their beaks, wings, and tails, they are by others classed with 



the African honey-guides, from which they are distinguished by the soft feathers 



and straight, sharp, conical beaks. Their long extensile tongues, which can be thrust 



some distance out of the beak, are very like those of woodpeckers, but the hairy 



tip is shorter, and not furnished with hooks. 



The European representative of the wrynecks (lynx torquilla) — the iynx, from 



" id'E, w," to cry out — may be found in almost any kind of woods near grass and 



orchards, except such as consist entirely of evergreen trees. Its favourite food is ants, 



in search of which it will go almost anywhere, not even fearing to enter inhabited 



