THE GREEN WOODPECKER 



GECINUS VIRIDIS 



LOCAL names in surrounding counties : " Whetile," 

 " Yaffle," " Rain Bird," " Heigh-ho " (Essex). 



STATUS IN BRITISH AVIFAUNA : A locally dispersed 

 resident in England, chiefly south of Yorkshire ; almost 

 unknown in Scotland and Ireland. 



RADIAL DISTRIBUTION WITHIN FIFTEEN MILES OF ST. 

 PAUL'S : Haunts of the Green Woodpecker may still 

 possibly be found at Highgate and Hampstead well within 

 the five-mile radius, but elsewhere in a similar limit the 

 bird can only be regarded as an occasional wanderer, if 

 it occurs at all. I have no records of this Woodpecker 

 from any of the large urban parks. Coming to the more 

 rural suburbs, the bird is found in the Dulwich, Wim- 

 bledon, and Richmond districts ; at Bushey, Hounslow, 

 Twyford, Harrow, Wembley, Pinner, Ruislip, Stanmore, 

 Brockley Hill, Mill Hill, Edgware, Barnet, Enfield, 

 Waltham, Epping, Hornchurch, Dagenham, Dartford, the 

 Grays, Croydon, Banstead, Epsom, and Bushey. Again, it 

 may be remarked that these localities only indicate the 

 general distribution of the Green Woodpecker ; there are 

 many intervening ones where the bird may be met with. It 

 is, however, a somewhat local and thinly dispersed species. 

 Slightly beyond our radius the bird is exceptionally nume- 

 rous in Windsor Park, at Cookham, Farnham (where I 

 have taken many nests), and in the vicinity of Ditton. 



There still remain, it will be seen, many ideal haunts 

 for the Green Woodpecker in Greater London. The 

 grand old parks and grounds, containing so much mag- 

 nificent timber, admirably meet this bird's requirements, 

 and the only wonder is that it occurs in such comparatively 

 small numbers. Its natural shyness and love of seclu- 

 sion may be the predominating cause. It is for the most 



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