GREEN WOODPECKER. 367 



time. The Green Woodpecker is a rather early breeder, and its hole is 

 often commenced by the middle of April, in some cases earlier. Many 

 kinds of trees are selected, poplars, elms, oaks, chestnuts, and sycamores 

 being amongst those which are more frequently chosen. A decayed branch 

 or trunk is usually bored for the purpose ; but sometimes the bird makes 

 the mistake of cutting into a sound limb, in which case it i* obliged to 

 relinquish its labours, and thus numbers of half-finished holes are aban- 

 doned. The Green Woodpecker does not invariably breed in standing trees ; 

 for Hewitson records an instance of its nesting in the wooden spire of a 

 church in Norway. Both birds assist in excavating the hole, one relieving 

 the other. The hole proceeds first in a horizontal direction, usually until 

 the birds meet with the decayed part of the timber, then a shaft is 

 sunk perpendicularly for a distance of ten or twelve inches, and the 

 bottom is enlarged into a little chamber, where the eggs are deposited on 

 no other bed than is afforded by the scraps of wood and dust that have 

 accumulated whilst the birds have been at work. It has been stated that 

 the birds carry the chips away from the vicinity of the nest ; but this is 

 certainly not usually done, the new chips at the bottom of the tree almost 

 always indicating that the hole above is tenanted. The hole is wonderfully 

 round and regular, aud looks as if it had been made with a sharper instru- 

 ment than a bird's bill. The eggs are usually laid late in April or early 

 in May ; they are from five to seven and occasionally eight in number, 

 and pure white, beautifully polished. They vary in length from 1/4 to 

 1*19 inch, and in breadth from '95 to '89 inch. They vary slightly 

 in shape, some being blunter at the small end than others. Their size 

 prevents them being confused with those of any other British Wood- 

 pecker ; but they are absolutely indistinguishable from those of several of 

 the allied foreign species. Eggs of the Black Woodpecker are sometimes 

 almost as small as those of this species. The young birds as soon as 

 they are able to quit the nest often take up their stations outside on the 

 branches or creep about the trunk, where they are fed by their parents. 



The general colour of the upper parts of the Green Woodpecker is olive- 

 green shading into yellow on the rump, and that of the underparts is nearly 

 uniform pale greyish green. The lores, cheeks, ear-coverts, and the feathers 

 round the eye are black, mottled on the cheeks with scarlet. The feathers 

 of the crown and nape are grey, broadly tipped with scarlet ; the wings and 

 tail are dark brown, the primaries barred with white on the outer web. 

 The outer web of the secondaries is olive-green, with traces of paler bars, 

 and all the tail-feathers, especially the two outer ones, are obscurely barred ; 

 there are also traces of bars on the feathers of the vent and under tail- 

 coverts. Bill, legs, and feet dark slate-grey; irides bluish white. The 

 female scarcely differs from the male, except in having no scarlet on the 

 cheeks. Birds of the year have the lower breast and belly barred like the 



