UHEEX WOODPECKEB. 77 



1v n retrograde motion. It alights near the base, and, 

 tapping at intervals to alarm any hidden insects, quickly 

 makes its way to the higher part of the bole, from which 

 it flies downwards to another tree, or to another part of 

 the same one, to commence again 'de novo.' Occasionally it 

 may be seen in strong hedges. In severe weather it ap- 

 proaches villages and farms, searching for its food in the walls 

 of old buildings and barns, as well as in the neighbouring 

 trees. 



The flight of this bird is generally short, from tree to 

 tree, heavy and laboured, the wings being rapidly fluttered, 

 and producing a rustling noise; it gains a long reach by the 

 impetus it has acquired, and then drops, the effort requiring 

 to be renewed. On the ground it walks horizontally, the tail 

 dragging after it. 



The 'laugh' of the Green Woodpecker, for so is its harsh 

 note of 'glu, glu, glu, gluck' designated, is supposed to 

 prognosticate rain; hence one of its trivial names. It is 

 almost startling if suddenly and unexpectedly heard. 



Its hard and wedge-shaped bill enables it, without difficulty, 

 to procure its food by boring into the decayed wood of trees, 

 even through any sound exterior part, and with its long and 

 extensile tongue, it extracts the insects and their eggs, spiders 

 and caterpillars, on which it lives, from the crannies in the 

 bark in which they lie concealed, and ants and their eggs 

 from their hills; in searching for which it is frequently seen 

 on the ground; and, l>ewick says, uses not only its bill, but 

 its feet: failing such a supply, it will cat nuts. The tongue 

 is a most wonderful organ, as in the rest of the Woodpeckers. 

 'It has the appearance of a silver ribbon, or rather, from its 

 transparency, a stream of molten glass; and the rapidity 

 with which it is protruded and withdrawn is so great, that 

 the eye is dazzled in following its motions: it is flexible in 

 the highest degree.' 



Preparations for building are commenced even so early as 

 February, and the old nest is frequently resorted to and re- 

 paired. The nest, if decayed wood-dust may be called such, 

 is placed at a height of fifteen or twenty feet from the 

 ground, in a sound hole in a tree; and it 'is said that the 

 birds carry away the chips and fragments of wood to a distance, 

 as if afraid that they might lead to a discovery of their retreat. 

 If necessary, it perforates a hole, or else suits one to itself, 

 with its trenehant bill, the strokes of the active worker 



