GREAT BLACK WOODPECKER. 135 



the point of their sharp and strong bill. In these holes, at 

 the usual season, the eggs are deposited, which in all the 

 species, as far as they have been ascertained, are invaria- 

 bly white, smooth, and shining. The males are said to 

 take a share in the task of incubation. In these particu- 

 lars the Black Woodpecker agrees, as far as its history can 

 be gathered from the works of European Ornithologists. 

 The egg of this bird is exactly like that of our well-known 

 Green Woodpecker in shape and colour, but is considera- 

 bly larger. One specimen, in the possession of Mr. Wil- 

 mot, whose rich collection was referred to in the account 

 of the Nutcracker, last described, is one inch four lines 

 long, and one inch one line in breadth. According to M. 

 Temminck, the Black Woodpecker lays three eggs, and 

 in default of finding insect food, will feed on nuts, seeds, 

 or berries. 



The Black Woodpecker is not found in Holland, but 

 M. Vieillot and Polydore Eoux include it among the 

 birds of France and Provence. M. Necker says it is not 

 uncommon in the pine forests of the mountains of Switzer- 

 land, and M. Savi also says that it is not uncommon on 

 the mountains of Savoy and in the Tyrol, occasionally in 

 winter appearing in the vicinity of Rome. A small num- 

 ber inhabit Sicily, where they remain all the year. Mr. H. 

 E. Strickland, in his Catalogue of birds obtained or seen 

 in Asia Minor, mentions that he saw a specimen of this 

 Woodpecker in the possession of Mr. Zohrab, at Broussa, 

 which was shot in the pine forests of Mount Parnassus. 

 Northward, it is a native of Denmark, Sweden, and Nor- 

 way. Mr. Hewitson, in reference to the Birds of Norway, 

 says, " In two instances only the Great Black Wood- 

 pecker was seen at a distance, but so wild, that it was 

 impossible to approach it ; on the wing it looks like a 



