GECINUS 453 



GECINUS, Boie, 1831. 



650. GREEN WOODPECKER. 



GECINUS VIRIDIS. 



Gecinus viridis (Liim.), Syst. Nat. i. p. 175 (1766) ; (Naum.), v. p. 270, 

 Taf. 132, figs. 1,2; (Hewitson), i. pi. Ixi. fig. ii. ; (Gould), B. of E. 

 iii. pi. 226 ; id. B. of Gt. Brit. iii. pis. 74, 75 ; Newton, ii. p. 457 ; 

 Dresser, v. p. 77, pi. 285 ; Hargitt, Cat. B. Br. Mus. xviii. p. 36 ; 

 Saunders, p. 273 ; Lilford, ii. p. 2, pi. 1 ; G. Itarelini (Brandt) Bull. 

 Sc. Acad. Imp. St. Petersbg. ix. p. 12 (1842) ; G. saundersi Tacz. 

 J. f. 0. 1878, p. 249. 



Pic vert, French ; Picchio verde, Ital. ; Griinspecht, Gerrn. ; 

 Oroene Specht, Dutch : Grcenspet, Dan. and Norw. ; Gron 

 Jfackspett, Grongoliny, Swed. ; Zelenoi-Dyatell, Russ. 



< ad. (England). Above green ; lower back, rump, and upper tail- 

 coverts brilliant yellow, the latter tinged with green ; crown and nape 

 brilliant scarlet ; lores, eyebrows, and round the eye black ; malar stripe 

 scarlet ; primaries brown, barred and blotched with whitish ; secondaries 

 golden green ; tail brownish black, barred with greyish brown, the outer 

 feathers green ; ear-coverts, sides of neck, and under parts from chin to 

 vent greyish green, paler on the throat and sides ; the abdomen and under 

 tail-coverts with indistinct darker bars; bill dark lead-grey, paler at the 

 base, blackish at the tip ; legs dark grey ; iris bluish white. Cul- 

 men 1'7, wing 6'3, tail 4*2, tarsus I'l inch. The female differs in lacking 

 the scarlet malar stripe, and the young are duller and paler, and have the 

 crown-feathers grey, tipped with scarlet. 



Hob. Europe generally except in the south-west ; Norway u 

 to the Trondhj em fjord ; Sweden to about 60 N. lat. ; not foun 

 in Finland ; England and Wales, rare in Scotland, and very rare 

 in Ireland ; Asia Minor, the Caucasus, and east to Persia. 



Frequents woods, groves, and orchards, where conifers and 

 deciduous trees are intermixed, but does not affect the conifer 

 woods or the true forest. It is active in its movements and 

 most industrious in examining the bark of trees for its food, 

 which consists of insects of various kinds and their larvae, espe- 

 cially ants and their pupae ; it will also eat acorns and nuts. 

 Its flight is soft and undulating but not prolonged. Its note 

 is a loud laugh plui, plui, plui, and a softer yuck, yuck, and in 

 the spring it is somewhat noisy. It bores its nest-hole in a 

 tree, seldom in a conifer, and clearing out most of the chips, 

 in April or May lays at the bottom of the hole 6 or 7 glossy 

 white eggs which average 1*20 by 0'85 in size. 



