127 



Like the preceding species, it nestles in the holes of trees, 

 laying its eggs, which are white, and five in number, upon 

 the decayed wood, and sometimes at a considerable distance 

 from the entrance of its temporary habitation. 



THE GIIEEN WOODPECKER. BrachylopJms viridis. This 

 species is more frequently met with in the south of England 

 than the preceding, but in Ireland and Scotland it appears 

 to. be unknown, though said to be generally distributed over 

 Europe. It is one of our most beautiful birds. The nest 

 is the hollow of a tree, and the eggs vary from four or five 

 to six, and even occasionally eight. In their unblown 

 state they are among the most beautiful of natural objects, 

 having an exquisite and pearl-like tint, and a surface polished 

 as glass ; when blown, the surface remains but the hue is 

 gone, and they are of the purest white. (PI. X. fig. 72.) 



THE HAIRY WOODPECKER. Picus villosus. This is a 

 North American species, and is common in orchards during 

 the autumn and winter, where it bores the bark of trees and 

 the decayed wood of palings in search of insects and their 

 larvse. In May it seeks the forest, and either appropriates 

 to itself the hollow of a tree, or makes one for itself in which 

 to deposit its eggs, which are white, and about five in num- 

 ber. It can only be regarded as a straggler in this country. 



