290 SUMMER. 



countries, but of which a straggler is sometimes, though 

 very rarely, seen in the forests in the north-east of 

 Scotland. In these, however, the outside toe is rever- 

 sible, so that it can act either as a front, or a hind 

 one ; and it is on that account that the feathery-footed 

 woodpecker is called '*' three- toed." These reversible 

 toes enable the birds to walk more easily upon the 

 ground than those which have the complete zygodactylic 

 feet ; at the same time that they can climb or perch 

 better than those birds in which the three toes act per- 

 manently against one. 



The green woodpecker ( picus viridis ) is the one 

 most abundant in Britain ; and it is met with in the 

 woods of all parts of the island ; but as it is not found 

 upon the ground, except in or near the forests, where 

 ant-hills are very abundant, it is not met with in the 

 northern isles, or any of those districts that are destitute 

 of timber. 



It is a handsome bird, and its colours are well calcu- 

 lated for concealing it upon the mossy trunks of the 

 trees which it inhabits, and in which it finds much of 

 its food, and uniformly constructs its nest. It is about 

 thirteen inches in length, and twenty one in the expan- 

 sion of the wings. The bill, which is not used to seize, 

 tear, or bruise, like the same organ in many other 

 birds, but to act like a pick axe or chisel, is, of course, 

 of the very best form for such a purpose. In colour it 

 is bluish black ; and it is worthy of notice, (though so far 

 as we know, no inference has been drawn from it,) that in 

 horny substances, the more intense the black, the more 

 firm the texture, as in the claws of eagles, and the bill 

 of this same woodpecker; and also in ruminating 



