WO ODPE CKERS. 



555 



Green Strictly birds of the Old World, these woodpeckers are plenti- 



woodpeckers. f u }]y distributed in the temperate portions of Europe and Asia, 

 several species occurring in the Himalaya, and hence extending through the 

 Burmese countries to the Malayan Peninsula, Java, Sumatra, and Borneo. In 

 Europe there are three species, Gecinus viridis, G. sharpei, and G. canus, while in 

 Algeria there is a fourth species of the same group, G. vaillanti, a species allied 

 to the European ones ; G. aivokera occurs in Japan. All the other green wood- 



COMMON GREEN WOODPECKER (f nat. size). 



peckers are tropical. The principal characteristic of this genus of woodpeckers is 

 the green plumage, and they are likewise remarkable for the small outer or 

 dwarf tail-feather, which is very short for the size of the bird. One of the 

 most interesting of European birds, not only on account of its habits and bright 

 coloration, but from its association with the poetry of Chaucer, who mentions 

 it by the name of yaffle, by which it is known to the present day in many 

 parts of the south of England, the green woodpecker (G. viridis) still " laughs 

 loud " in many a woodland district. Its green colour, crimson crown, and yellow 

 rump, render it conspicuous, and its dipping flight is peculiar, being a series of 



